Ludhiana: With the arrest of two persons, the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA)-II of the Ludhiana police on Thursday claimed to have busted an interstate gang of vehicle lifters. They also recovered six stolen cars from their possession.
According to the police, the accused would steal vehicles from Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi and sell them in the city on forged documents. The police recovered two Toyota Innova cars, two Maruti Suzuki Brezza and one Baleno cars, and one Mahindra Scorpio car from their possession.
The arrested accused have been identified as Loveraj Singh, 40, of Karamwala village of Ferozepur Cantt and Ankush Kumar, 31, of Mahuana Bodla village in Fazilka. According to police officials, Loveraj is the kingpin of the gang and has many accomplices in various cities.
DCP (investigation) Simratpal Singh Dhindsa said following a tip-off, the CIA-2 personnel arrested the accused near Tibba crossing. They were travelling in a Mahindra Scorpio vehicle bearing a fake registration number.
The DCP said during their interrogation, the accused confessed that they had stolen the vehicle from Bhopal and wanted to sell it in the city using forged documents. On their information, the other cars were recovered.
Talking about the modus operandi of the accused, DCP Dhindsa said, “The accused used to manage registration, chassis and engine numbers of genuine vehicles and prepare forged documents of stolen vehicles. The police also suspect involvement of the employees of the transport department of different cities, from they used to get the details of the registered vehicles. The gang members in different states used to steal vehicles, after which Loveraj and Ankush would travel by air there and drive the vehicle back to the city.”
The DCP further said as Loveraj and Ankush were already into the business of second-hand cars, they could easily sell the stolen vehicles. The police are further questioning the accused to know total how many stolen vehicles they have sold so far.
A case under IPC sections 379 (theft), 411 (receiving stolen property), 473 (making or possessing counterfeit seal etc to commit forgery), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuables security, will etc), 468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (using fake documents as genuine papers) has been lodged against the accused at Tibba police station.