india

Updated: Jul 23, 2019 07:47 IST

Three members of the notorious ‘Thak-Thak’ gang allegedly stole a polythene bag containing Rs9.5 lakh from a transporter’s car near Sadar market on Monday morning.

According to the police, victim Jaivir Singh, a resident of Feroze Gandhi colony in Sector 9, apparently fell for their old trick of diverting attention just after he came out of a bank with the money.

Shamsher Singh, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said that the victim parked his car outside the gate of Kamla Nehru Park near Sadar market and went to withdraw cash from the bank across the road.

According to the victim, he had gone to the bank with his wife to withdraw the cash from her account. “After we came out with the cash, she took an auto-rickshaw as she had to return home and I had to reach my office in Sector 12 for a business deal. I kept the polythene bag containing money below the passenger seat. As I was about to switch on the car’s engine, two unidentified men knocked at my car window. When I rolled down the window, they said you have dropped money. I went out and picked up three notes of Rs100 and four notes of Rs10,” he said.

Jaivir said when he returned, he found the bag missing from the car and saw them fleeing on a motorcycle.

Jaivir told the police that he had seen two of them in the bank and suspected that they were following him.

Singh said the basic modus operandi of this gang is to divert the attention of the victims by dropping a few currency notes and engaging them in a conversation, during which the rest of the gang members make away with the cash or valuables.

This is the third such incident at the same spot this year, the police said.

On November 21, 2014, the sister of a former state minister had parked her Toyota Fortuner on the same spot. A young man had allegedly pointed out to her that Rs100 were lying near the door of the car and when she had stepped out to pick up the note, his associate standing near the SUV allegedly lifted her bag containing jewellery worth Rs20 lakh and Rs50,000 cash.

On April 5 this year, the crime branch of Gurugram police had arrested the alleged kingpin of “Thak-Thak” gang, Vinoth Kumar, who is still behind bars.

The police said after lying low for some time, the gang members have resurfaced in the city. They have returned to the area which used to be one of the city’s most vulnerable spots till five years ago. Some of the spots identified by the police as vulnerable to such thefts include Golf Course Road, Sohna Road, MG Road, and Palam Vihar.

“We have recovered CCTV camera footage from the spot and are trying to identify the miscreants,” said Singh. A case under sections 379 (theft) and 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code was registered at City police station on Monday evening.