Owner dozes off, SUV gets stolen

I stayed awake for a long time in the hope that the rain would subside, but ended up dozing off around 3 am. When I woke up at 5 am I realised that my car was missing.

SUSHIL NEHRA, car owner

NEW DELHI: On a business trip to Delhi and forced to stay overnight due to heavy rains over the weekend, a Haryana-based businessman remained awake for hours to guard his Toyota Fortuner parked on the roadside, but the SUV allegedly got stolen soon after he dozed off.

Nearly 125 vehicles in Delhi are reported stolen in Delhi on an average everyday. Only 10% of the stolen vehicles are recovered each year.

Sushil Nehra, 44, the owner of the stolen car, claimed that he had never parked his SUV at an undesignated parking spot.

Police said they have registered a case of theft at Kotla Mubarakpur police station in south Delhi but are yet to get any clues about the vehicle thieves. “We have deployed a team to track down the vehicle,” said an investigator, adding the SUV does not have a GPS device installed.

Nehra lives in Haryana’s Sirsa district and owns a fuel station and a dairy business. He had visited Delhi on Saturday to make purchases and was to return home the same day. “But it rained heavily through the day and I decided to stay overnight at my relative’s home in South Extension,” said Nehra.

But the South Extension neighbourhood he was staying in did not have a parking spot because of which he parked his SUV on the roadside. “I am someone who always finds a desig- nated parking spot. At my home, the vehicle is parked in a very secured area,” said Nehra.

“I am aware of vehicle thefts in Delhi and know that thieves target expensive cars. So, I was worried about parking at an unsafe spot in Delhi. Initially, I thought of removing the car’s batteries, but it seemed a cumbersome idea,” said Nehra.

Instead he decided to stay awake to keep a watch and leave for his home when the rain subsides. “I stayed awake for a long time in the hope that the rain would subside, but ended up dozing off around 3 am. When I woke up at 5 am I realised that my car was missing,” alleged Nehra.

He contacted the local police after which an investigating team visited the neighbourhood and checked CCTV cameras for clues. Nehra quoted the police as saying that a CCTV camera captured the car being driven out of the neighbourhood around 4 am. However, an investigator denied landing any such footage.