Vehicle theft gang: Nagaland RTO officers’ role under lens

Cops suspect accused had agents in Karnataka, Rajasthan; 41 more vehicles identified

The involvement of transport officials from Nagaland is being probed in connection with the inter-State vehicle theft racket busted by the Thane police.

Over the course of a month of investigations, nine accused were arrested and 80 vehicles, which they had stolen and sold off using forged documents, were recovered. The gang is believed to have been active for at least two years.

According to the Thane police, the fact that the forged papers, which certified the stolen vehicles as registered in Nagaland, were repeatedly provided before the vehicles were resold, has raised suspicion.

“There seems to have been no verification of the RC books for the vehicles before being cleared by Regional Transport Offices in Nagaland despite over 100 vehicles being passed off as Nagaland registered. The possibility of insiders’ involvement can not be ruled out at this stage,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone I) D.S. Swami said.

Inquiries have found out that at least one of the arrested accused, Vinit Madhiwal, was working as an RTO agent in Nagaland and was instrumental in obtaining the bogus papers. The police are examining his call detail records to identify his possible accomplices.

Investigating officers said the highly-organised racket was the brainchild of Sandeep Lagoo, a graduate in chemistry, who was also arrested in 2016 in a carjacking case. Mr. Lagoo, along with a few other members of the gang, first ran the operations in 2017, and it subsequently expanded, sources said.

“We suspect that the gang had a large number of agents in Karnataka and Rajasthan, who would collect information about people in need of four-wheelers urgently, after which they would approach them and offer deals at affordable prices. Since the accused themselves did not incur any cost in stealing the vehicles, they ended up making a hefty margin,” an officer, who is part of the investigation, said.

Meanwhile, the police on Friday identified 41 more four-wheelers which were allegedly stolen by the accused.

“The process of recovering the vehicles is under way. The number of vehicles and arrests is expected to increase,” Mr. Swami said.