Carjacked cab tracked in hours

A call centre cab, allegedly stolen at gunpoint on Khel Gaon Marg in south Delhi early on Friday, was tracked by police within hours using the global positioning system device installed in the vehicle, Vijaita Singh reports.

A call centre cab, allegedly stolen at gunpoint on Khel Gaon Marg in south Delhi early on Friday, was tracked by police within hours using the global positioning system (GPS) device installed in the vehicle.

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The cab was recovered from near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and the three men in it held.

The Chevrolet Tavera, which belonged to Dell Computers’ BPO unit in Gurgaon, was returning from Noida around 4 am after dropping its employees. Armed men in a Tata Sumo intercepted the car on Khel Gaon Marg and forced the driver to the back seat. Soon, they abandoned the driver and fled with the car.

The BPO’s transport department tried contacting the driver over wireless when the cab did not return to Gurgaon on time. “When they did not get any response, they got in touch with Traqr — the company that installed the GPS. The company told us the cab was somewhere near Kanpur. A team left and recovered the cab,” said a senior police officer.

“Around 6 am the cab was found moving near Mathura at a over 100 kmph. We gave printouts of the route to the police and they set out,” said Rajesh Agarwal, owner of Traqr.

“Our helpline informed the cops that the cab had changed its position and was parked on a highway near Kanpur,” he added. Delhi Police informed their counterparts in Kanpur and a joint raid netted the three carjackers.

The three accused have been identified as Lallan Singh, Rakesh Kumar and Mukesh Kumar. Police said Singh has been involved in five such cases in Delhi and Bengal.

The BPO had recently equipped their cabs with GPS devices for safety reasons.

“The GPS device helped police track down the cab. We advise all companies, especially BPOs, to equip their cabs with these devices,” said H G S. Dhaliwal, DCP (south)