Delhi: Two vehicle theft gangs, with links to criminals in Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, busted; five arrested

Officers aware of the investigation said one gang used to steal CNG-fitted cars and sell them to stolen car dealers in Uttarakhand, while the other targeted SUVs, like Creta, Brezza and Seltos, depending on orders received from Rajasthan-based agents.

New Delhi: The city police on Tuesday claimed to have busted two separate gangs of auto-lifters, with alleged links to liquor and drug smugglers in Rajasthan and stolen car dealers in Uttarakhand, after the arrest of five people and recovery of 12 stolen vehicles, along with electronic gadgets and lock breaking tools, allegedly from their possession.

Four of the five arrested accused. The operation by the anti-auto theft squad (AATS) of Shahdara district police spanned across Delhi and three nearby states over a period of two weeks. (Source)

The operation by the anti-auto theft squad (AATS) of Shahdara district police spanned across Delhi and three nearby states over a period of two weeks, officers said.

According to police, the gangs stole vehicles from Delhi as per the demand from their clients in Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.

Officers aware of the investigation said one gang used to steal CNG-fitted cars and sell them to stolen car dealers in Uttarakhand, while the other targeted SUVs, like Creta, Brezza and Seltos, depending on orders received from Rajasthan-based agents. Officials said the SUVs were subsequently sold to gangs involved in trafficking liquor from Haryana to Gujarat, which is a “dry state”.

“The stolen vehicles were also used to smuggle opium poppy into Rajasthan from Madhya Pradesh,” said deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) R Sathiyasundaram.

The DCP said that the AATS was tasked with nabbing auto-lifters following several incidents of vehicle thefts using a similar modus operandi in Shahdara district.

The DCP said the suspects wore caps to hide their faces from CCTV cameras, stole cars in the wee hours of the day and used various advanced tools to deactivate the security features of the cars, open doors and start the engine.

The police got on one of the gang’s trail while investigating the theft of a CNG-fitted Honda City car from Anand Vihar area on August 14.

“Our team collected details about the suspects through technical investigation and human intelligence network and arrested Parvez, 25, from Bilaspur near Rampur in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. Two stolen Honda City and a Creta were recovered after his interrogation,” said the DCP.

Upon interrogation, Parvez allegedly revealed that his gang is led by one Satish Gangwar, and added that they have contacts in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani and Nainital to receive the stolen cars.

The gang either sold parts of the vehicles or used documents of similar vehicles involved in accidents to sell the stolen cars, police said, adding that efforts are on to arrest Gangwar and two other members of the gang.

The AATS learned of the second gang after finding four of its members replacing the number plates of two cars -- a Brezza and a Creta -- near CBD ground in Karkardooma in the early hours of September 9. Police arrested two suspects -- Faisal (26) from Nainital, and Azharuddin (39) from Meerut -- after a brief scuffle even as the two others escaped in the Creta car.

The Brezza car was later found to be stolen from MS Park area on September 7, the police said.

The two arrested men revealed that they allegedly worked for Kuldeep Singh, a habitual criminal from Delhi’s Alipur, and reportedly admitted to stealing over 50 cars from Delhi-NCR in the past few years.

Singh was later arrested from northeast Delhi’s Dayalpur and eight more stolen vehicles were recovered after his interrogation. They sold the stolen cars to Manish Kumar, a receiver in Rajasthan who was also arrested, the DCP said.

“This gang used electronic gadgets imported from China to decode the engine control module (ECM) of a car and start its engine. They tampered with the car’s engine and chassis numbers and gave a new identity to the vehicle using details of other cars of the same model and make. Singh is an expert in making a digital car key using programming tools,” he added.

Police said that Singh and his gang members stole vehicles after received demands from Kumar, who further sold the stolen vehicles to traffickers of liquor and drugs in Rajasthan.