Four men held in Delhi for stealing cars after exchange of fire

Police said four men stole two cars from a company’s godown in Mundka on Saturday and choked the security guard when he tried to stop them. On Tuesday, When a policeman tried to chase them, they attempted to kill him by hitting him with a car and injured a few bypassers in the process

Four men were arrested on Tuesday for stealing two cars from a company’s godown in Mundka on Saturday, the police said.

Police said that the arrested men were identified as Ravi Dalal and Himanshu. During questioning, they revealed the names of the other two suspects, Vicky and a juvenile, who were also caught on Tuesday. (Representative image)

Two of them were arrested after a dramatic chase, following an exchange of fire with police in Mundka area early Tuesday.

Police said four men stole two cars from a company’s godown in Mundka on Saturday and choked the security guard when he tried to stop them. On Tuesday, When a policeman tried to chase them, they attempted to kill him by hitting him with a car and injured a few bypassers in the process.

Police said that the arrested men were identified as Ravi Dalal and Himanshu. During questioning, they revealed the names of the other two suspects, Vicky and a juvenile, who were also caught on Tuesday.

Talking about the incident, police said that on Saturday, they got a PCR call regarding the theft of two new cars from the stockyard of a car company in Mundka.

Police said that the security guard at the stockyard, Manoj Kumar Mishra (45), told them that on the intervening night of October 1 and 2, he was on duty from 8pm to 8am.

“Around 3am, when I was in the guard-room, I heard a noise. When I stepped out of the room to look around, some people suddenly attacked me. They beat me up brutally and confined me in the guard room. They even robbed me of my phone and other belongings,” the guard said.

He added that they strangled him, but when he became unconscious, they left him for dead and fled after stealing the cars.

DCP (Outer) Parvinder Singh, said that a case was immediately registered under sections 394 (Voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Mundka police station and teams were formed to investigate the matter. “During the investigation, Section 395 (punishment for dacoity) of the IPC was also added to the case,” said Singh.

Police said that during the investigation, they found that new cars are temporarily stored, before being distributed to showrooms, at a stockyard at Hirankudna village in Mundka. Last month, approximately 100 new cars of a well-known company were parked in the stockyard. Due to heavy rain, the godown was waterlogged and five cars were suspected to be damaged.

On September 26, these five cars were placed in the middle of the plot and their keys were kept in the security guard’s room, police said. They added that the suspects were after these particular cars.

DCP Singh said that over the weekend, the police team checked about 175 CCTV cameras in Delhi and nearby areas in Haryana. The Haryana Police was also informed about the incident.

On Tuesday, around 7.30am, the team received information about one of the suspects being spotted at Rohtak road. The team, including ASI Satender, constable Naveen, constable Krishan, and constable Ravi Anand, spotted one of the stolen cars at a petrol pump on main Rohtak road.

When the team tried to apprehend the two persons sitting in the car, the driver reversed the car, hit the policemen as well as bystanders, and sped away.

ASI Satender fell while constable Krishan tried to hang onto the door on the driver’s side. To shake off the constable, the driver turned the car into the wrong lane and smashed the side of the car against a parked truck. When that failed to dislodge the constable, the men took off running in different directions.

The other policemen, in the meantime, chased down one of them in a vacant plot. He then took out a pistol from his pocket and opened fire. In retaliation, Satender also fired three rounds in the air while Krishan and Naveen overpowered him. He was later identified as Himanshu. The other accused, Ravi Dalal, was also nabbed shortly thereafter. A case under relevant sections was then registered.