Inter-state luxury vehicle theft gang busted, 1 arrested

With the arrest of one accused, the Panipat police have claimed to bust an inter-state luxury vehicle theft gang involved in 20 theft incidents – two in Panipat and 18 in Delhi.

The accused has been identified as Aasim of Kithor in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh. DSP Rajbeer Singh, at a press conference on Sunday, said Anti Vehicle Theft team In-charge SI Rohtash and his team nabbed the accused from near the Kami chowk in Sonepat last Monday.

During the preliminary investigation, the accused revealed that he, along with his associates — Ajay of Tharu village in Sonepat, Sudeep Dhankar of Khubru village, Gaurav of Sonepat, Mazid of Jishor village, and Rijwan of Kakol village in Meerut — stole a Fortuner car on the night of February 5 from Model Town in Panipat.

Based on a complaint of Karan Taluja, a case was registered at the Model Town police station in this regard.

Singh said Ajay, a member of gang, was a Delhi Police constable. Aasim was remanded to five-day police custody after being produced before a court.

The accused confessed to one more incident of theft in Panipat, and 18 at various places in Delhi.

One of the gang members, Gaurav of Sonepat, had been arrested by the Panipat police on February 18 with a loaded country-made pistol and with two stolen cars.

The accused has been sent to judicial custody after interrogation, the DSP said.

Aseem revealed during the interrogation that he was arrested by the ATS cell of Delhi Police last year.

Constable Ajay was also posted at the ATS cell.

Ajay was friends with him, and asked him to meet after coming out of jail.

He was released on bail in October 2024, and met Ajay.

After this, they started stealing luxury vehicles. They stole 20 vehicles in four months.

After spotting vehicles to steal, they broke side-view mirrors with a screwdriver, and manipulated the softwares of the vehicles, the DSP said.

After stealing the vehicles, the accused sold them to Vaseem Loti of Meerut. They used to talk to each other on Zangi, a mobile phone application, to save themselves from the police, the DSP said. Aasim was produced before a court on Sunday after a Creta car was recovered from his possession, with the court sending him to judicial custody. As many as 51 vehicle theft cases had been registered against Aasim in Delhi and Gurugram, the DSP said.

Haryana Tribune