Intercity gang of car thieves busted in Gurgaon

The gang stole vehicles of the same colour and model, replace the engine and chassis number plates and make profits by selling the vehicles at a princely sum, the police said on Monday

A gang of thieves that used to purchase damaged vehicles and keep their engine and chassis number plates has been busted by the Gurgaon police.

The arrested accused confessed to the involvement of the gang in five such incidents in the city. (HT PHOTO)

They used to steal vehicles of the same colour and model, replace the engine and chassis number plates and make profits by selling the vehicles at a hefty sum, the police said on Monday.

The Gurgaon police also claimed to have arrested one member of the gang which operated in New Delhi, Gurgaon, and Faridabad.

The police identified the accused as Lakhvinder aka Raju, a resident of Bikaner and presently living at Rohini in New Delhi.

The police recovered an auto key programmer and four cars, a Maruti Suzuki Wagon R, Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire, Maruti Suzuki Swift and a Hyundai i 20 from the accused. Search for his accomplices is on,” Ravinder Kumar, public relations officer, Gurgaon police, said.

The police said that on being grilled, the arrested accused revealed the involvement of the gang in five such cases.

According to the police, their anti-snatching squad received information on November 20 that a person, who seemed to be on the looking for an opportunity to steal a car, had been spotted near Subhash Chowk. Following a search operation, Raju was apprehended near Subhash Chowk. He had been in the police remand since then. He was produced in a court on Monday and sent to judicial custody.

“On being questioned, Raju disclosed stealing a Wagon R in July from Gurgaon and a case was subsequently registered against him at the Sadar police station. The police secured his remand. He then disclosed the modus operandi of the gang and revealed that they used an auto key programmer for their thefts, which was later seized,” the PRO said.

Read I Two of gang arrested for stealing 150 luxury cars in Gurgaon

On November 2, police arrested the main accused of a three-member gang which robbed people on the highway at gunpoint on the pretext of offering them lifts.

On July 7, the police said they arrested two members of a vehicle-theft gang that had robbed over 150 luxury cars across NCR.

Gurgaon recorded 3.700 vehicle thefts in 2015 and in 2016, the number of such cases rswelled to 3,518. According to official sources, more than 3,400 vehicles thefts have been recorded in Gurgaon till October-end.