Vehicle lifters’ gang busted in Ludhiana, used to target cars parked outside gurdwaras

The accused have stolen the vehicles from Moga, Ludhiana, Tarntaran, Mohali and Amritsar; 14 stolen vehicles, including five SUVs, two other cars and seven motorcycles recovered

Police busted an inter-state gang of vehicle lifters with the arrest of three members. The accused would target vehicles at parking lots of different Gurudwara and sell the stolen vehicles off to a Moga-based scrap dealer, who is yet to be arrested.

Ludhiana police busted a vehicle lifters’ gang busted that used to target cars parked outside gurdwaras. (HT File)

Police have recovered 14 stolen vehicles, including five SUVs, two other cars and seven motorcycles from their possession. The accused have stolen the vehicles in the past one and a half months from Moga, Ludhiana, Tarntaran, Mohali and Amritsar.

The arrested accused have been identified as Arshdeep Singh, 22, Harwinder Singh, 19, Gurditt Singh, 21 — all residents of Moga. Their accomplice Jaspreet Singh of Moga, who is a scrap dealer, is yet to be arrested.

Sharing details, commissioner of police Mandeep Singh Sidhu said Rajiv Kumar of Hambran road, Ayali Chowk made a complaint to the police that his Mahindra Scorpio SUV was stolen outside his house. PAU police had registered a first information report (FIR) against unidentified accused and initiated investigation.

Police found the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage of the accused escaping after stealing the vehicle. Investigating the matter, police arrested the accused.

Sidhu added that Arshdeep Singh, the kingpin of the gang, confessed to selling a stolen car to the Moga-based scrap dealer Jaspreet Singh — following which police booked him in the case.

“During investigation the accused confessed that they used to target vehicles parked in parking lots of Gurudwaras. According to the accused, the devotees used to keep the parking slips on the dashboards of the vehicles. They used to unlock the vehicles with a duplicate key. The gang has confessed to stealing four vehicles from the parking of Shri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar,” the police chief said.

Giving out further details about the accused, Sidhu said, “Arshdeep is Class 12 pass-out while the other accused are school dropouts. The accused indulged in vehicle lifting to become rich overnight. Arshdeep Singh told police that on January 1 he used his bike’s key to open a Mahindra Scorpio car and managed to unlock it. After that he formed his gang and started stealing vehicles.”

More important information has been expected from the accused during questioning.