Bunty Chor: The True Story of India’s Most Notorious Super Thief Who Committed Over 500 Robberies

A man sat quietly behind the iron bars of a police lockup, holding a living lizard between his fingers. Without showing fear or hesitation, he swallowed it whole.

Within minutes, his body began reacting violently. He started vomiting and was rushed to a hospital under heavy police protection. His hands remained chained, and officers surrounded him, believing there was no possibility of escape.

However, the medical emergency was reportedly part of his plan.

Inside the hospital, he picked up a disposable syringe and used its needle to open the lock securing his chains. In less than a minute, the prisoner disappeared from police custody.

His name was Devender Singh, but the country would eventually know him as Bunty Chor, one of India’s most infamous and unpredictable thieves.

A Troubled Childhood in Delhi

Devender Singh was born into an ordinary family in Vikaspuri, Delhi. His childhood was reportedly filled with conflict, and he developed a rebellious personality at a young age.

He had little interest in school and failed the ninth grade. When his father learned about the result, he became furious, severely punished Devender and reportedly told him to leave the family home.

Devender was only around 14 years old.

Humiliated and angry, the teenager walked away from his family and never returned to a normal childhood. With no money, education or support system, he was forced to survive alone on the streets of Delhi.

He initially found work with a private detective agency in Vasant Vihar. The job allowed him to enter expensive homes and offices while learning about security systems, locks and valuable properties.

What began as professional curiosity slowly became an obsession.

Devender started studying the construction of locks and learning how they could be opened. Small thefts initially felt like risky games, but the thrill soon transformed into a full-time criminal career.

The Screwdriver That Became His Signature

Unlike many criminals, Bunty reportedly avoided carrying guns or knives. His most important tool was an ordinary screwdriver.

With this simple object, he allegedly opened expensive imported locks, disabled alarms and entered some of Delhi’s most heavily protected homes.

Between 1989 and 1993, he was linked to more than 100 thefts. As the number of cases increased, his confidence grew. He no longer behaved like a nervous burglar attempting to hide in the darkness.

Bunty often dressed in expensive suits, wore a tie and carried himself like a wealthy businessman. Security guards sometimes assumed he was an important guest and allowed him to walk through the main entrance.

Once inside, he would open locks, empty safes and steal luxury items.

However, Bunty was not interested only in money. His behaviour inside the houses made him different from ordinary thieves.

He sometimes opened the refrigerator, ate food and relaxed on expensive furniture after completing a robbery. In one case, he allegedly stole a costly Rolex watch and left his cheap old watch in its place.

He also had a strange habit of stealing framed family photographs and expensive pet dogs, particularly Pomeranians. These objects often had little resale value, suggesting that the thefts were partly psychological games designed to humiliate his victims.

Luxury Cars, Hotels and an Artificial Lifestyle

Bunty did not appear interested in saving money for the future. He reportedly spent stolen wealth almost as quickly as he acquired it.

He stayed in five-star hotels, wore foreign designer clothes and spent heavily on women and entertainment. Expensive watches, jewellery and other stolen items were sometimes given away as gifts.

He also developed a habit of stealing luxury vehicles.

Bunty would arrive at a target location in one vehicle, abandon it after the robbery and leave in the victim’s more expensive car. This constantly changing chain of vehicles made it difficult for police to track him.

According to accounts connected with his criminal history, he was linked to more than 250 incidents in Delhi alone. Across India, the number of alleged offences reportedly crossed 500.

His crimes were no longer simply about financial gain. For Bunty, stealing appeared to become an addiction and a way of proving that he was smarter than the police.

Escaping Police Again and Again

Bunty’s prison escapes became as famous as his robberies.

After the reported lizard-and-syringe escape from a Chennai lockup, he was arrested again approximately 20 days later by Chandigarh Police.

This time, he reportedly developed a friendly relationship with a sub-inspector during questioning. When the right opportunity appeared, Bunty stole the officer’s scooter and escaped once again.

On another occasion, after being arrested in Bhopal and brought before a Delhi court, he attempted to confuse investigators by making bizarre claims. He reportedly described himself as the king of Cameroon, claimed that his queen was waiting for him and sometimes compared himself to Napoleon.

Despite having limited formal education, he spoke fluent English and used confidence as a weapon.

He reportedly admired the internationally known criminal Charles Sobhraj and wanted to create a similarly mysterious identity around himself.

The Film That Made Bunty Famous

In 2008, filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee released Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, starring Abhay Deol.

The movie was inspired by the life of a charming thief who stole televisions, luxury cars, household items and expensive pets. Its success introduced a fictionalised version of Bunty’s story to a much larger audience.

Instead of being viewed only as a criminal, Bunty began receiving the kind of attention normally reserved for celebrities.

However, according to the narrative surrounding his life, Bunty was not pleased by the film’s success. He reportedly believed that the filmmakers had made money from his story without asking for permission or sharing any profit with him.

He allegedly became angry with director Dibakar Banerjee and later claimed that one of his major crimes was connected to his desire for revenge.

Bunty Chor on Bigg Boss

After being released from prison, Bunty attempted to present himself as a changed and spiritual person.

In 2010, he entered the fourth season of the reality television show Bigg Boss. His appearance created immediate controversy.

When host Salman Khan asked whether he had served time in prison, Bunty reportedly replied, “Yes, just like you have.”

His confrontational behaviour continued inside the house. He argued with other participants, used abusive language and covered cameras with socks. His conflict with the show’s producers eventually resulted in his removal.

The appearance demonstrated that Bunty was still unpredictable and unwilling to follow authority.

The Kerala Robbery and His Biggest Sentence

In 2013, Bunty travelled to Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, where he targeted the highly secured home of wealthy NRI businessman Venugopalan Nair.

The property reportedly contained advanced imported security equipment. Bunty allegedly broke through a heavy glass door, disabled two alarms and switched off two of the six CCTV cameras.

He escaped with cash, jewellery, a laptop, mobile phones and a Mitsubishi Outlander SUV.

However, he failed to notice a hidden camera positioned near the main entrance. The camera captured a clear image of his face.

Kerala Police released the photograph to the media, and officers from northern Indian states quickly identified the suspect as Bunty Chor.

After abandoning the stolen SUV near Bengaluru, he continued changing locations and eventually reached Pune. A hotel employee recognised him from a newspaper photograph and informed the police.

Bunty was arrested and returned to Kerala.

In 2017, a Thiruvananthapuram court sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment. It became one of the longest and most serious punishments of his criminal career.

Released in 2023—and Arrested Again

Bunty completed his sentence and was released in March 2023.

Many people believed that age and a decade in prison might finally have changed him. However, within approximately one month, two major thefts were reported in Delhi’s Greater Kailash area.

Mobile phones, laptops, expensive shoes, watches, television sets, electronic equipment and other household items disappeared.

Surveillance footage reportedly showed a familiar face.

Delhi Police formed a special team and used mobile-location information and FASTag records to follow him across hundreds of kilometres. On April 14, 2023, he was arrested in the Fazalganj area of Kanpur.

During questioning, he allegedly made strange claims, including describing himself as an incarnation of God and the richest person in the world. He also denied ever committing a crime despite the enormous number of cases associated with his name.

A Criminal Turned Into a Celebrity

The story of Bunty Chor is not simply the story of a thief. It is also a warning about how crime can be transformed into entertainment and how public attention can turn a dangerous criminal into a celebrity.

His confidence, unusual methods and repeated escapes created a legendary image. Films, television appearances and media reports made him famous far beyond the police files containing his alleged offences.

Behind the entertaining headlines, however, were hundreds of victims whose homes were invaded and whose sense of safety was permanently damaged.

Devender Singh’s journey from a troubled 14-year-old boy to one of India’s most notorious thieves shows how rebellion, ego and the desire for attention can become destructive obsessions.

Prison sentences repeatedly stopped him temporarily, but they appeared unable to change the identity he had created for himself.

Bunty Chor wanted the world to remember him as a criminal mastermind. Unfortunately, his story also proves that fame does not erase the damage caused by crime—it only makes the consequences easier to ignore.