Two of gang that stole cars, altered chassis and engine nos held

Delhi Police Crime Branch on Saturday busted a gang involved in selling stolen cars after replacing their chassis and engine numbers with that of damaged vehicles purchased as scrap they bought from insurance companies.

Two members of the gang — namely, Maninder Singh, 23, and Sukhdev Singh alias Rajan, 34, both hailing from Punjab —were arrested, and 20 luxury cars were seized from them.

Praveer Ranjan, joint commissioner of police (Crime Branch), said a team comprising ACP Sanjay Sehrawat and inspector Neeraj Chaudhary were set up after several cases were reported. The team gathered information about Sukhdev Singh and Maninder Singh who purchased stolen cars from autolifters in Delhi.

Ranjan said that on March 3, the duo had come to Delhi to purchase a stolen Verna car. Crime Branch team nabbed Maninder near Panipat toll plaza on March 4. Sukhdev managed to escape, but was arrested on March 6 from Punjab following cues given by Maninder.

During interrogation, the two revealed that they gathered documents of damaged cars from insurance companies, and convey the details to one Sonu, a car jacker. Sonu would steal a car of the same make and brand. The duo later replaced the registration number, engine and chassis number of the new car with that of the old cars , of whose documents they procured. They have sold over 100 cars in last year.