Two held for running racket of stolen cars in Delhi, 11 vehicles recovered

Delhi Police busted a gang that procured documents of scrapped vehicles and then bought stolen cars of the same make and swapped their chassis numbers. These vehicles were then sold with new identities along with original-looking documents. Two men have been arrested and 11 vehicles were recovered, police said.

Police identified the two men as 36-year-old Rahis from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, a vegetable trader, and his 48-year-old associate Jaipal from Jind, Haryana who runs an auto service station. A total of 11 stolen vehicles — four Swifts, five Swift Dzires, one Fortuner, and one Innovoa — have been recovered.

Deputy commissioner of police (north) Nupur Prasad said they received input on Tuesday about a gang of auto thieves who would come to Majnu Ka Tila to sell a stolen car. “The team rushed to the spot where two suspects were spotted in a Swift Dzire. They were caught and during questioning they told that they had changed the registration number of the vehicle. Further investigations revealed that the car was reported stolen from Rohini on September 2,” Prasad said.

The officer said Rahis confessed he purchased the car from a gang of auto lifters. “He said Jaipal then managed to get the RC (registration certificate) and chassis number of another vehicle of the same make, whose ‘total loss’ claim had already been availed by its owner from the insurance company. Jaipal gave the documents and chassis number to Rahis, who then punched the same on the chassis of the stolen vehicle,” the officer said.

Police found the two men arranged the documents of the ‘total loss’ vehicles from insurance companies with the help of a network of scrap dealers.

“Rahis used to purchase stolen vehicles from auto lifters for an amount ranging Rs 75,000 to Rs 1 lakh. After changing the chassis number of the stolen car with the total loss vehicle, Rahis sold the stolen vehicles to others for Rs 1.50 lakh to Rs 2 lakh,” Prasad said.

First Published: Sep 16, 2018 04:02 IST