Fourth time lucky? Businessman’s stolen car spotted
NEW DELHI: A brown Renault Duster stolen on January 30 from a south-delhi based businessman was spotted in north Delhi on Monday morning by a motorist who heard the news being played out on a radio channel, hours after Hindustan Times reported the story on Monday.
Hindustan Times had reported how the man had been targeted by vehicle thieves four times in three years and how on all three occasions, his cars were found.
The motorist, Aakash Garg, captured the car’s photo on his mobile phone and dialled the police number. But before the police could react, the stolen Duster disappeared.
Chinmoy Biswal, DCP (southeast), said a police team has been asked to analyse the CCTV footage between Majnu Ka Tilla and Kashmere Gate along which the car was being driven. But the car remained untraced at the time of filing this report.
The serial victim, 50-year-old Deepak Pandoi , a textile dyer and finisher, has lost his cars four times over the last three years. The first three thefts had happened between December 2014 and February 2016.
Pandoi had been lucky so far as the stolen cars were recovered between a week and 90 days of their disappearances.
On January 30 this year, Pandoi parked his new Duster outside a gym in Lajpat Nagar, walked up the stairs, and deposited the car keys at the reception. The car bore the registration number HR-51AW-2710.
“The thief was well dressed, in branded shoes and clothes. He tricked the receptionist into looking for the trainer, took the key and drove away,” Pandoi said.
Hindustan Times reported the case on Monday edition after which radio stations in Delhi followed up the story in the morning. As a radio station announced the car’s number in the morning, the news caught Garg’s attention.
“My friend and I were driving through Majnu Ka Tilla when I heard the radio station mention the stolen car’s registration number. Moments later, I saw a brown Duster overtake us. It bore the same registration number. I immediately took a picture as evidence. I also called the police who noted the details,” said Garg.
But Garg did not have enough time to do more as the Duster car zoomed ahead towards Kashmere Gate. Garg tweeted the photo to the radio station even as the south-east Delhi district’s anti-auto theft squad reached out to him. “It does not seem to be the work of professionals. We are working to trace the car, but it is likely the thief will abandon the car soon,” said an investigator.