india

Updated: Aug 27, 2019 00:54 IST

With the arrest of four people — whose modus operandi involved stealing old cars —a vehicle lifters’ gang has been busted, said police on Monday.

Police have impounded 41 vehicles, including 38 cars.

The accused have been identified as Tarsem Singh alias Sema, Sukhdev Singh alias Kala, Kulwant Singh alias Buggi and Harwinder Singh alias Bachi, all residents of Manakmajra in Khanna. Tarsem is the kingpin of gang, said police.

Khanna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gursharandeep Singh Grewal said, “The car-borne accused were arrested from T-point in Bhadla village during checking on Sunday evening.” Police also recovered ₹1.35 lakh from the accused.

“The accused used to dismantle the vehicles and sell their parts.They had rented a godown at Fatehgarh Niuyan village to hide and disassemble the stolen vehicles,” said the SSP.

“During the interrogation, the accused revealed the location of the godown, following which a raid was conducted and police seized dismantled parts of 41 vehicles,” said Grewal.

The SSP said, previously, over 25 FIRs of vehicle lifting have been filed against the accused across the district.

A fresh FIR under Sections 379 (punishment for theft), 411(dishonestly receiving stolen property) and 201(causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against the accused at Khanna City-1 police station.

PAST INCIDENT

On August 12, a gang of vehicle lifters was busted by Khanna police and three people were arrested. The accused used to disassemble the vehicles and sell the pieces to scrap dealers. The accused had confessed to selling 12 cars and five motorcycles.

TARGETED OLD CARS ONLY

SSP Grewal said that the gang members used to mostly steal old cars including Maruti 800, Maruti Suzuki Zen, Tata Indica. The accused have stolen 10 vehicles from Ropar, three from Sangrur, nine from Patiala, three Fatehgarh Sahib and 16 Khanna.

Police said, the accused confessed that “old four-wheelers are easy to steal, as most of them don’t have a central locking system. Moreover, the owners don’t put much effort in tracing the vehicles which are old.”