Kingpin of auto-lifter gang arrested after gunfight in Najafgarh

NEW DELHI: The Inter-border Gangs Investigation Squad of the Crime Branch has arrested the kingpin of a gang of auto-lifters active in Delhi after a brief encounter in the Najafgarh area.

He used to steal luxurious cars from various posh colonies on demand of the receivers. Apart from nine stolen vehicles including a Fortuner, Eco Sports, Honda City, Baleno and Swift cars, a country made pistol and live cartridges have been recovered from his possession. The arrested accused, identified as Pramod (33).

He has been involved in dozens of cases in Delhi and UP and was externed from Delhi.

Interrogation of the accused revealed that he is involved in more than two dozen criminal cases all over Delhi and UP. He is a desperate autolifter by profession. He has also been declared Bad Character by Mangolpuri police station. He has different addresses in Mangolpuri and was externed from Delhi about a year ago. Further interrogation of the accused revealed that he along with his associates and notorious auto-lifters Mohit Sharma and others stole luxurious cars from posh colonies of Delhi and NCR.

“They replace the original key with a fake one. Later on, when the owner can’t open his car using the fake key, he gets a duplicate. They then chase the owner and wait for him to park the car somewhere. Once the owner parks the car, they steal it using the key they had stolen earlier. This way, they have stolen hundreds of luxurious vehicles and disposed them off,” said Joint CP Crime Alok Kumar.