E-Paper
MBA grad who stole over 60 cars moved to Hyderabad from Bengaluru
Reminiscent of the “Pontiac Bandit” Doug Judy, Shekhawat not only stole five cars in Hyderabad but also taunted cops with messages like: “Catch me if you can.”
Satyendra Singh Shekhawat, an interstate car thief who had stolen over 60 cars was finally arrested and moved to Hyderabad from Bengaluru on a prisoner transit. Satyendra Singh Shekhawat, an MBA graduate who had eluded cops time and again was moved to Bengaluru to Hyderabad on a prisoner transit. He was arrested last month in Jaipur, his native place and brought to Bengaluru.
Reminiscent of the “Pontiac Bandit” Doug Judy in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Shekhawat not only stole five cars in Hyderabad but also taunted cops with messages like: “Catch me if you can.”
Shekhawat came under Telengana Police’s radar in January 2021 when he allegedly stole a Fortuner belonging to Kannada film producer Manjunath from a five-star hotel. He was identified on CCTV footage and a team from Banjara Hills in Hyderabad went to his house in Jaipur where they spoke to his father and wife.
Following that, Shekhawat contacted the cops, asking them not to harass his family and promised to surrender.
However, the car thief didn’t keep his word and instead sent taunting messages to the police. With the Banjara Hills police still looking for him, Shekhawat came back to Hyderabad and drove off with an Isuzu Pick Up truck belonging to a software engineer.
The father of one boy, Shekhawat is a habitual offender involved in car thefts since 2003 and has cases pending against him in Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
Shekawat's wife was caught selling a stolen car in Telangana in August 2021, after which he reportedly challenged Telangana Police by sending them a WhatsApp text saying: “Catch me if you can.”
Among the items recovered from him include 20 four-wheelers, a two-wheeler, 20 manual keys, 13 smart keys, six mobile phones, an X-horse Dolphin key-cutting machine and other tools.
According to cops, he ran an elaborate operation which included purchasing car lock key frequency scanners, key programming devices and key cutting gadgets, all of which cost a few lakhs combined. He also prepared duplicate keys by scanning the key frequency and stole the cars. He is being questioned about his modus operandi.
