Thieves make merry on poll day, steal 19 vehicles in Delhi

Over 56,000 security personnel including the 38,834 strong Delhi Police force ensured smooth elections in the Capital but such a huge force couldn’t prevent automobile thieves from stealing as many as 19 vehicles from the streets of the city in a single day on May 7, reports Karan Choudhury.

Over 56,000 security personnel including the 38,834 strong Delhi Police force ensured smooth elections in the Capital but such a huge force couldn’t prevent vehicle thefts.

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Automobile thieves managed to steal as many as 19 vehicles from the streets of the city in a single day on May 7.
Delhi police said 19 cases of vehicular theft were reported from various parts of the city on polling day.

Rahul Gupta, a resident of Sadar Bazaar, reported that his Santro car was stolen on the day of elections. “I parked my car at our residential parking lot around midnight. When I woke up in the morning around 6:00, I found out that my car was missing. There was such heavy police presence in our area but still the thieves managed to steal my vehicle,” he said.

According to Delhi Police records this year till May 8, as many as 8,704 vehicles were reported stolen in the Capital.
On an average around 70 vehicles are stolen per day and it seems that polling day was no exception. In 2007 the figure was 8,039, which rose in 2008 to 9,895 motor vehicle thefts in the Capital.

The Delhi Police on their part had rounded up various bad characters, car thieves and bootleggers before the elections. But all this has not helped in preventing car thefts in the city.

On May 7, 19 motorcycles and 8 cars were reported stolen from different parts of the city.
Even after a crackdown by police teams on a number of gangs, cases of carjacking of luxury vehicles are also on the rise in the city.

“Cars like Skoda, Honda Civic and even high-end luxury SUVs like Mitsubishi Pajeros are much in demand in the black market,” said a police officer.