Interstate vehicle lifting gang busted, 8 held with 6 vehicles

With the arrest of eight people, Jaipur police on Friday claimed to have busted an interstate gang of vehicle lifters.

The police have recovered six stolen vehicles including one of an inspector general of police.

Additional commissioner of police Praful Kumar said that the crime branch had arrested five members of an interstate gang on June 12, who allegedly were involved in vehicle lifting. During interrogation, they confessed to lifting the vehicle of the IG from Central Park on May 15 along with other vehicles.

Among the arrested were Rishi Raj Meena (30) of Sawai Madhopur, Arvind Patel (38) from Gujarat, Ram Singh and Chain Singh from Dudu and Rajpal Meena from Kishanpura.

Special teams were constituted and despatched to Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai on the basis of information by crime branch headed by DCP Vikas Pathak.

The city police arrested three more vehicle lifters, identified as Ateek Ahmed (35) from Mumbai, Rupesh Malviya (36) and Sheikh Mubin (33) from Madhya Pradesh.

Kumar said of eight arrested, five has criminal records – there are many cases of vehicle theft against Rishi, Rajpal and Ateek, liquor smuggling on Arvind, and scuffling on Chain Singh. Many stolen vehicles have been recovered from MP.

Regarding the modus operandi, Pathak said that on the basis of demands from other states, the gang used to steal vehicles and dodge police and toll plazas through lanes in rural areas.

During interrogation, Rishi Raj also confessed that he used to tag his wife along to avoid police barricading.

Ateek, who used to run a garage, now purchases stolen vehicles and sells them to garage owners. The IG’s vehicle was sold to Ateek by Rishi at ₹60,000, which, in turn, was sold at ₹1 lakh to a garage owner in Indore.

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