Ghaziabad: Thieves target 21 Maruti cars in Vaishali, escape with batteries

They targeted only Maruti car models such as Dzire, Wagon-R, Swift and Alto. The other cars were untouched, Indirapuram police said.

A gang of thieves targeted parked vehicles in Vaishali area of Ghaziabad late Sunday night and escaped with batteries from different car models of Maruti. The aggrieved residents filed police complaints and demanded enhanced night patrolling.

A Vaishali resident with one of the cars from which the battery was stolen on Sunday night. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

According to residents, the incident took place around 2.15am on Monday. All the cars were parked outside houses in Rachna locality of Sector-3A.

“Residents generally park cars outside houses and in lanes or galleries of the house. The thieves made off with batteries from 21 cars belonging to different residents. They targeted only Maruti car models such as Dzire, Wagon-R, Swift and Alto. The other cars were untouched,” said Shyam Kanojia, resident.

“Since several CCTV cameras are installed in the area, we have footage of the gang arriving in a white car and loading batteries into the same vehicle before escaping. The weather was also clear last night as there was no rain. The incident is a result of thin police patrolling,” he said.

“There have been several thefts in houses before but such an incident is for the first time. The other cars of Hyundai, Honda, etc, were not touched by the gang. They escaped with batteries from Wagon-R, Dzire and Alto,” another resident said.

Akash Tomar, superintendent of police (city), said patrolling will be stepped up in the area and the complaint will be taken up for investigation at the earliest.

“We suspect that a single gang with several members is behind these thefts. The gang was busted by the Sahibabad police but some of its members are still at large. We have directed the station house officer (Indirapuram) to hold a meeting of all RWAs and sensitise them about installation of CCTV cameras and hiring security guards. On our part, the timing of patrolling will be reviewed and intensified,” he said.