Gurgaon: Drivers steal firm’s Volvo buses after getting sacked

Two former drivers of a Gwalior-based travel company allegedly stole two luxury buses from the firm’s office in Ghaziabad allegedly to take revenge on the owner who had fired them for “theft and misconduct”.

Two former drivers of a Gwalior-based travel company allegedly stole two luxury buses from the firm’s office in Ghaziabad allegedly to take revenge on the owner who had fired them for “theft and misconduct”.

The police arrested two drivers for stealing luxury buses from the Ghaziabad-based office of their former employer. (Abhinav Saha/HT)

The accused have been identified as Sajjan Kumar, 22, and Bunty Nagar, 24. Sajjan belongs to Faridabad in Haryana while Bunty hails from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, the police said.

After stealing the Volvo buses on Tuesday, the two drove them towards Gurgaon.

They were arrested by the Gurgaon police from Sohna Road on Wednesday night. The crime team of the Gurgaon police had received a tip-off about the accused and had put up barricades on the road, the police said.

“We installed barricades on Sohna Road and as soon as one of the buses reached there, we stopped it and asked the driver for documents. He failed to produce the papers and confessed to the crime during questioning. He gave the mobile number of the other driver and we arrested him with the other bus from Sohna,” said sub-inspector Rajkumar who is the in-charge of the crime unit that carried out the operation.

According to the police, the drivers were fired by the company, Kalpana Tour and Travels, for thefts and misconduct. They then decided to steal company buses to take revenge on the owner. They even struck a deal with a Rajasthan-based travel company to sell the stolen buses. They had agreed to sell the buses, worth crores of rupees, for Rs 5 lakh each.

According to their plan, the two reached the company office at Vasundhara in Ghaziabad on Sunday. They then asked a key maker to make duplicate keys of the two Volvo buses. Around 10pm on Tuesday, when all drivers of the company left the office, the duo went to the parking lot and waited till midnight. They then fled with the buses.

On the way, they informed a friend, who was acting as a middleman in the deal, that they were on the way.

Ashok Arora, owner of the company, said, “Bunty used to work with me five months ago. I had fired him for thefts. He and the other driver would also make fake fuel receipts to cheat the company.”

The accused were produced in a city court on Thursday and sent to 14-day judicial custody.