Chandigarh, Nov. 9 -- A grand wedding celebration at luxury hotel JW Marriott, Sector 35, turned into a harrowing ordeal for a Mohali-based family after two unidentified men, posing as guests, stole gold jewellery worth around Rs.18 lakh during the pheras past Friday midnight. The theft took place around 12.25 am, when the bride's family momentarily stepped aside to see off relatives. Meanwhile, the bag containing gold jewellery, meant for the bride to wear after the rituals, along with some cash, went missing from near the mandap set up in the hotel's outdoor lawn. The suspects, dressed in formal suits similar to other wedding guests, allegedly mingled freely at the venue for nearly four and a half hours before committing the theft. The CCTV footage accessed by police showed the duo entering the venue at 8 pm. Over fours later, around 12.38 am, one of the accused was captured walking out of the hotel's main gate while talking on his mobile phone. A security guard moved the barricade for him, assuming he was a guest. Moments later, his accomplice appeared, casually walking with a blazer placed over his shoulder, allegedly hiding the stolen bag beneath it. Both casually exited the venue on foot. Police sources confirmed that CCTV footage captured the duo inspecting various areas of the hotel before targeting the bag placed near the mandap. In his written complaint, Dr Nikhil Sethi, brother of the bride, alleged serious security lapses by the hotel. He claimed that the hotel staff initially downplayed the matter and delayed action for nearly 30 minutes, instead of checking CCTV footage immediately. "All ceremonies were taking place at JW Marriott. During the pheras, my mother looked away for hardly 2-3 minutes while seeing off guests. Suddenly, the bag was missing. Despite alerting the appointed event manager and the security manager, there was no urgency from the hotel," Dr Sethi alleged. He further claimed that some CCTV cameras were non-functional, and proper action was initiated only after his family summoned the police around 1.30 am. A team from the Sector 36 police station reached the site shortly after the call and recorded statements of the family and hotel officials. As per the police complaint, the stolen items weighed 170-180 gm (about 17 tolas) and included a necklace (9 tolas), two gold bangles (4 tolas), a pair of earrings, a gold ring, two gold coins (2 tolas). Since bridal rituals were in progress, the bride was wearing artificial jewellery and was to change into the gold ornaments after the pheras. Police have registered a case under Section 303(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the unidentified thieves. The hotel's CCTV footage has been seized, and teams have been formed to trace the suspects. Investigators are tracking the movement of the suspects before and after the theft, including examining nearby CCTV footage on the route they took when they fled. The victim's family, based in Mohali, is from the medical profession and had relatives and guests attending the ceremony from European countries and across India. The celebrations, which began earlier in the evening, were being held entirely inside the five-star property. When contacted for the hotel's comment, the staff at JW Marriott's reception declined to connect the call to the duty manager. The attending staffer refused to share the manager's contact number, stating, "We have no information regarding the incident and cannot provide the same," and abruptly disconnected the call. According to preliminary police inputs, the two accused, believed to be in their early 20s, are suspected to be from a Gujarati family involved in inter-state wedding thefts. Investigators are probing links to a recently reported theft at a wedding in Amritsar, where CCTV footage showed two men with similar appearance, attire and movements. In that case too, the suspects had blended in as guests, stayed inside the venue for hours and fled with jewellery in a similar manner. Police are now comparing the Chandigarh footage with the Amritsar visuals....