Gang stealing vehicles in Chandigarh tricity busted, four held

A total of 25 stolen motorcycles recovered from the accused, who hail from Ferozepur; the gang mostly stole motorcycles from Chandigarh and Nayagaon in Mohali

Police have busted a gang of vehicle lifters active for the past nine months with the arrest of four members, including a juvenile, solving over two dozen cases.

The accused and the recovered motorcycles in the custody of Chandigarh Police. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

As many as 25 stolen motorcycles, stolen from across the tricity, have been recovered from the accused, identified as Makhan Singh, 22, who is the gang’s kingpin, Baljinder Singh, 24, and Gurwinder Singh, 23, all residents of Ferozepur, Punjab. Their juvenile accomplice is 17 years old.

While Makhan and Gurwinder are Class 10 pass-outs, Baljinder has completed an ITI course. All accused were earlier working at a hotel in Ludhiana and were residing in a rented accommodation there.

The gang mostly stole motorcycles from Chandigarh and Nayagaon in Mohali.

Giving details about the arrests at a press conference on Wednesday, Chandigarh senior superintendent of police (SSP) Kanwardeep Kaur said the accused were arrested by a team led by SP (City) Mridul, DSP Gurmukh Singh and Sarangpur SHO inspector Harminderjit Singh.

They were nabbed from a check post installed near the Khuda Lahora gurdwara on Sunday. Since then, police recovered 25 stolen motorcycles from different parts of Punjab. Owners of 11 of the total recovered motorcycles have been traced.

She said the gang had been operational for the past nine months and police were working to ascertain if they were involved in other crimes.

The accused have been booked under Section 380 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sarangpur police station.

Arrived in Chandigarh for kin’s treatment at PGI

As per police, Makhan arrived in Chandigarh several months ago as one of his relatives was admitted at PGIMER, Chandigarh and formed a gang with the other accused to steal vehicles from the tricity.

“They used a master key to unlock the motorcycles and steal them. They mostly stole vehicles parked in Khuda Lahora, Khuda Jassu, Dhanas and Nayagaon. They would drive the vehicles to Ferozepur, where they would sell them off to labourers for ₹4,000 to ₹10,000 after changing the number plates. They even kept a few for their personal use,” said the SSP.

The gang would take a train from Ludhiana to Chandigarh and after having food at Night Food Street outside PGIMER, they would head out to steal motorcycles in the wee hours.

Some of their customers were aware that they bought stolen motorcycles and will be interrogated too, said the SSP.