Gang of vehicle-lifters forged documents, ‘placed’ drivers to steal 3,000 cars in 5 years

A day after an interstate gang of vehicle-lifters was busted, police investigation revealed that the gang was also allegedly involved in selling fake identity documents

A day after an interstate gang of vehicle-lifters was busted, police investigation revealed that the gang was also allegedly involved in selling fake identity documents to unemployed men in Nuh and helping them find jobs as cab drivers. Police said the gang would then rope in these drivers to steal cars of their employers.

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The suspects were identified as Shaukat Ayub Khan of Palwal, Sanjay Khan of Jalalpur, Rinku of Punhana and Aarif Khan of Bicchor from Nuh district.

The incident came to light after several businessmen and transporters approached the police in September last year to complain that their newly hired drivers had fled with their cars. During investigation it was found that documents submitted by suspects before taking up jobs were forged and the addresses mentioned did not exist, police said.

According to the police, the gang would allegedly approach young men who knew how to drive four-wheelers and offered them driving licences, Aadhaar cards and PAN cards. They also reportedly trained them before registering themselves with different online advertisement platforms with advertisements for chauffeurs, the police said, adding that the gang would also place advertisements in newspapers and take commission from the drivers who were placed based on their efforts.

In a recent case, a Delhi-based businessman had alleged that he had to visit a remote area in Rewari for official work and had hired a man to drive him around for the day. After completing his field work, the complainant went to his office near the Sector 14 market and asked the driver to park the car and hand over the keys, but the driver never returned, the police said quoting the FIR. According to the complainant, the driver switched off his cellphone after fleeing with the car.

Akil said Shaukat, the mastermind of the gang, has been arrested more than a dozen times in the past and had come out on bail in November last year. He is allegedly involved in stealing more than 400 cars from five states, including Tamil Nadu. He used to allegedly carry a grinder (machine for making duplicate keys) and make a duplicate key on the spot to steal cars.

According to Akil, the gang started operations in 2015 when Shaukat approached Rinku for making a fake driving licence and a fake registration certificate of a stolen car. “Shaukat would often turn to Rinku for getting documents forged. Within three months they became friends and formed a gang. Finding it to be a lucrative business, Rinku asked his graphic designer, Aarif Khan, to join them and within a week their gang had more than eight members,” the police chief said.

“With forged documents, Shaukat used to drive cars to Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Sikanderabad in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and sold them for at least ₹1.5lakh. He also involved another one of his friends, Sanjay Khan, whom he had met in Bhondsi jail. They divided the work and the money equally,” Akil said.

Assistant commissioner of police (crime) Preet Pal Sangwan said the gang had been using the modus operandi of “placing drivers” for last four years—a year after they formed the gang. “Cases of vehicle theft have been filed against them in different states and they have sold nearly 3,000 cars. We do not have exact details of all cases, but the arrested men revealed that only a few vehicle lifting cases were of Gurugram. We are yet to arrest the drivers, suspected to be more than 10, involved in vehicle lifting who were a part of this gang,” he said.

Police said crime investigation unit of Palam Vihar, led by inspector Bijender Hooda, was keeping a close watch on the gang. Last week, they surrounded Shaukat, but he managed to flee after damaging three police vehicles. “We were tracking their locations for the last one month but they managed to give us a slip. We arrested Shaukat and Sanjay from Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway. Rinku and Aarif were arrested from Punhana, Nuh, based on a tipoff,” Hooda said, adding that both the drivers were on their way to Gurugram from Tamil Nadu on Saturday when they were returning in a stolen Maruti Eeco.

Sangwan said that after their arrest, they revealed the names of other gang members based on which two others were arrested. “The gang was in possession of a grinder, a tool-kit, a 20-piece set of spanners and screwdrivers used to open cars, gas cutters, printers, laptops and more than 200 forged identity cards including PAN cards, driving licences, Aadhaar cards, credit cards, bank statements and 20 duplicate keys of cars,” he said.

The police have taken possession of all these items.