Gang of vehicle lifters busted, seven held

CHANDIGARH: Police on Monday claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of vehicle lifters, with the arrest of seven persons.

One of the accused is involved in 42 cases of vehicle theft. The gang used to work in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh.

The accused are Harpreet Singh alias Smarty (27), a resident of Zirakpur, Inderjit Singh alias Ricky, a resident of Chotta Surtapur village in Ropar, Virender Pal Singh

(30), a resident of Jyoti Nagar, near Kheda, Karnal, Javed Akhtar (48), a resident of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, Dilawar (59), Abdul Aziz (59) and Mohammad Asif (40), all three residents of Delhi.

Cops said Smarty and Inderjit Singh were caught first and their interrogation led to the five other accused. Cops claimed their arrest has solved 10 vehicle theft cases and they have recovered 14 vehicles (eight cars and six two-wheelers) Talking about their modus operandi, DSP Pawan Kumar said all the accused are known to each other. Akhtar used to take the vehicles to Meerut and get their engine and chassis number changed after preparing their fake documents. Virender who works on a clerical post in a private bank in Karnal used to help in selling the vehicles, the DSP said.

All seven of them used to steal vehicles from Chandigarh, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana and sell them in UP to scrap dealers. They have admitted to having stolen almost 30 vehicles from Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, out of which 14 have been recovered and the rest have been sold in Meerut.

Smarty, Inderjit Singh and Dilawar have a tainted past, the DSP said. Smarty was earlier arrested in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi. A total of 42 cases registered against him in different police stations at different places.

Inderjit Singh was arrested by Punjab Police and Dilawar was arrested earlier by Delhi Police under vehicle theft cases. All these accused are in judicial custody at present.