With Valentine’s Day approaching, three youngsters went about hurriedly selling expensive cars they stole for a few thousand rupees each so that they could afford expensive gifts for their girlfriends.
As the day approached, the trio’s desperation to earn quickly reached its peak as they went about stealing six cars within a period of 12 days. Overall, 10 auto theft cases, including eight this year alone, have been solved so far with their arrest.
The suspects have been identified as Prince Sharma and brothers Sagar Lakara and Sunny Lakara. Son of an accountant, Prince, 23, worked at a call centre for sometime before he decided to start his own call centre. Sunny, 21, and his 20-year-old brother Sagar were pursuing their graduation and class 12 education from private institutes.
“All three had girlfriends and wanted to surprise them with expensive gifts on Valentine’s Day. So they began selling even Honda City cars for as little as Rs.45,000,” said a senior investigator. Of the six vehicles stolen by them in the 12-day period, three were Honda City cars. Of the other cars stolen by them, one was a Hyundai i-10, which they abandoned because it met with an accident and suffered damages. The gang came under police’s radar on last Saturday after a man approached South Campus police station to complain about being duped. “The victim Gurmeet Singh had liked a Honda City on the OLX website upon which he contacted its ‘owner’,” said Prem Nath, DCP (South).
The car was delivered to him near Moti Bagh Gurdwara in Nanakpura on February 1 after he paid Rs.45,000 through cash. A few days later, he checked the documents to realise it was a stolen car. The local police decided to set a trap and constituted a team led by South Campus SHO Suresh Chand. It was decided that a Sub-Inspector Ashok Kumar would pose as a decoy customer. Sagar Lakara, whose phone number was mentioned on the OLX website, was contacted by the policeman and asked about the Honda City car. Though it had already been sold, Sagar did not reveal that and agreed to arrange a test ride in Moti Bagh itself. Since the gang already had with them another Honda City, Sagar and Sunny brought it to the pre-designated spot from where they were apprehended. Prince, too, was nabbed later and another stolen Honda City recovered from him.
Of the six vehicles stolen by them in the 12-day period, three were Honda City cars
