Vehicle theft Delhi’s most common crime

Guess what crime is committed most in Delhi? It's neither robbery nor murders, but motor vehicle thefts. This year alone more than 27,000 cases of thefts have already been reported. Vijaita Singh reports.

Guess what crime is committed most in Delhi? It's neither robbery nor murders, but motor vehicle thefts. This year alone more than 27,000 cases of thefts have already been reported.

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Police said there has been a 25 per cent increase in the number of vehicle thefts, compared to last year. Police say these thefts constitute about 15 per cent of all the crimes committed in Delhi. These figures also include scooters and motorcycles.

“Our analysis shows that motor vehicle theft is the biggest crime in Delhi and there has been a considerable increase in it,” said a senior police officer.

To discourage car thefts, Delhi Police are sending out letters to all vehicle owners in the city requesting them to buy security gadgets. Police will also provide the owners with telephone number of dealers of safety devices in their area.

On December 6, Delhi Police chief YS Dadwal said that police alone couldn't prevent vehicle thefts as there were a huge number of vehicles in the city. “People have to invest some money in this. It is not possible for police alone to prevent such incidents,” Dadwal had said.

Police said the biggest reasons for these thefts were non-availability of parking places in residential areas and indifference of owners and their 'police may care' attitude.

“Most vehicles cannot be traced as they are sold in far off north-eastern states. Vehicles are even sold in Nepal where it is impossible to get them back,” said the officer.

“Vehicle theft was one of the biggest crimes this year in south Delhi. There are huge number of cars in the area and almost difficult to keep a check on each one of them,” said HGS Dhaliwal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south).

Police said they keep arresting gangs and the moment they come out on bail, they started committing the crime again.

“Off late we also started booking vehicle thieves under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act so they cannot get bail easily at least for six months. There are however many new entrants so it’s difficult to book all," he said.

Recently, south district police arrested three men who used a stolen government vehicle fitted with a beacon light to steal more vehicles, police said.

“They used to first steal government vehicles and use the vehicle to commit thefts of luxury vehicles,” a senior police officer said.

Police said the gang was an expert in making duplicate keys and was involved in more than 50 cases of vehicle thefts in south Delhi. Police said most of the stolen vehicles were disposed off in Punjab and they had identified the kingpin, who is evading arrest.

One member of the gang — Mohammad Sagir — was an expert in making duplicate keys, said police. “Sagir is a master in making keys in a very short span,” said the officer.