The Delhi Police claim to have busted an alleged inter-State gang of auto lifters after arresting five men, who are accused in several motor vehicle theft cases reported in the city. The accused, said the police, targeted vulnerable homes across Delhi and lifted SUVs and luxury cars. Around 28 vehicles were purportedly recovered from their possession.
SUVs and luxury cars
The gang specialised in stealing SUVs and luxury cars as per demand from their counterparts in north-east India and Nepal. The stolen cars were transported from Haryana to Nagalnd in containers. They also supplied these vehicles to car dealers in Haryana and Delhi as used cars.
Apart from the cars, the police also recovered drillers, lock sets, grinders, magnets and 20 new car keys. The gang had purchased expensive code scanners, which they used to break locks and used duplicate smart keys to start the cars.
The group operated in Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasathan.
The arrested gang members have been identified as Sonu (29), who stole the cars; Narender Singh (49) and Lal Bahadur (39) from Haryana, who drove away the stolen cars from the crime scene; and Sarik (28) from Meerut and Vijay Dahiya (30) from Rohtak, who were the receivers.
DCP (crime) Rajesh Deo said that the inter-State cell of the Crime Branch had been tasked to crack down on vehicle thieves.
Inspector Neeraj Chaudhary’s team got on the trail of the gang after it stole a car from Subhash Nagar. On December 15, the team arrested Narender, Lal and Sarik while they were travelling in a stolen vehicle. The arrested led the team to Sonu and Dahiya, who were nabbed from Panipat.
