NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has busted an inter-state syndicate of auto-lifters and arrested four Punjab-based receivers of stolen vehicles. They have been identified as Avtar Singh (40), Harpreet Singh (32), Paramdeep (42), and Manpreet (29), officials said on Tuesday. A total of 21 luxury cars were recovered from the accused.
According to police, they studied the pattern of vehicle thefts, including timing and CCTV footage from various cases, which revealed that the accused mostly operate at midnight and primarily target luxury cars. It was found that some receivers from Punjab were active in Delhi, taking stolen cars to Punjab and selling them, especially in border districts.
“On May 7, information was received that Avtar would come in a stolen car with a fake number and go to Punjab. A trap was laid, and the vehicle was intercepted. Avtar and Harpreet were inside the car. Upon checking the engine and chassis numbers, the car was found to have been stolen from Saket,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Apoorva Gupta said.
Both accused disclosed that they receive stolen cars and sell them in Amritsar and Ludhiana. They used to receive cars from Dashrath and Raj Kumar. The recovered car had also been received from them a few days earlier.
“They have handled many luxury cars and sold them to different buyers in Punjab. They also forged registration certificates. They were involved in 15 to 20 such cases. Several raids were conducted in Amritsar and Taran Taran, Punjab’s border districts, where Paramdeep and Manpreet were also arrested,” the DCP said.
The accused purchased stolen luxury vehicles such as Fortuner, Thar, and Creta for `four to five lakh, tampered with chassis and engine numbers, prepared forged registration certificates, and sold the vehicles as genuine in Punjab. Avtar got involved in auto theft through two people, Gora and Binda of Amritsar. He met Harpreet in jail and made him an associate, police said.
Paramdeep had an auto-parts factory in Ludhiana but suffered losses during Covid-19. He then began buying and selling old cars. Manpreet has a diploma in civil engineering. Earlier, he worked as a driver. In 2020, he started receiving and selling stolen vehicles at high prices, police added.