E-Paper
2 members of gang involved in stealing self-drive cars arrested in Chandigarh
Two members of gang who had allegedly stolen self-drive cars from the Chandigarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, were arrested by Chandigarh police at a naka near Dhanas lake
Police’s operation cell busted a gang of fraudsters accused of stealing self-drive cars, operating across state borders, and two-wheelers from Chandigarh.
The accused, Mangi Lal, 24, and Madan Chaudhary, 23, both hailing from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, are both part of the gang, members of which allegedly used fake IDs to hire self-drive cars from Chandigarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh that they would later steal.
The police said both accused worked as drivers, and were arrested by the team at a naka near Dhanas lake. They were in possession of a stolen two-wheeler at the time of arrest.
A case had earlier been registered at Sector 17 police station in October 2021. Police also recovered another stolen motorcycle, a case for which had been registered at the Sector 39 police station in January 2021.
During his questioning, one of the accused said they had hired cars from ZoomCar, a car rental company, later revealing the location of the 3 stolen creta cars.
Police said the accused used to travel across states and hire cars by providing forged IDs and later flee after discarding the SIM and mobile phones used to make the bookings. To avoid being tracked, the accused would take off the GPS and change the colour of the stolen vehicles.
Chandigarh police had on February 18 registered a case at the IT Park police station under sections 406 (), 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code on the complaint of ZoomCar business manager Parvesh Kumar Sharma.
The complainant said a person identifying himself as Deepak Chandra Sharma from Mathura, had booked a Hyundai Creta for a day in July 2021. He received a payment of ₹7,470 and picked up the vehicle from IT Park road, near Chandigarh Railway Station on July 10, but had not returned the vehicle and removed its GPS system.
Police said the other two cars recovered were stolen from Indore, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively.
