Don’t fall for the oil leak trick, drive away
Tricity residents need to be extra alert as a gang is on the prowl, tricking drivers into getting out of their cars to check oil leaks and fleeing with their laptops, bags and valuables.
In the third such incident on Wednesday, 30-year-old Vinay Kumar Sethiya of Sector 70, Mohali, opened the bonnet to check the engine outside a showroom in Sector 11, Panchkula, when a man told him his car was leaking oil. “Meanwhile, another man took out my laptop bag from the car and fled from the spot,” Sethiya told the police.
On Tuesday, two men on a motorcycle used the oil-leak trick at the Chandimandir light point to steal a bag with three diamond rings, a diamond mangalsutra, gold earrings, a pearl necklace, ₹4,000 cash and a cheque book, among other things, from the car of a Shimla-based couple. Dharam Pal Azad, 40, was on his way back home with his wife from Chandigarh when they were duped.
On November 28 two men on a motorcycle stopped a Panchkula businessman at Shakti Bhawan Chowk near Sector 6, saying the vehicle was leaking oil and fled with his briefcase containing ₹1 lakh as he stepped out of the car to check the problem.
Commenting on Sethia’s case, inspector Arvind Kumar, SHO, Sector 5, said, “We have started investigation and are checking CCTV cameras for more leads.” A case has been registered under Section 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc) of the Indian Penal Code.
MEN WORK IN GROUPS, KEEP TABS ON TARGETS
With these back-to-back incidents in Panchkula, police teams have now been directed to hunt for these men in their mid 20s at public places, especially outside public parks, say senior police officials. “We are suspecting it to be the handiwork of a gang of youths that works in several small groups. They often use the same modus operandi to fool people and flee with their belongings,” Pawan Kumar, assistant commissioner of police (ACP) crime, said.
Kumar said initial probes indicated that the gang was targeting people at certain spots where they had stopped for work or to buy something .
“In most of these cases, it can be a fruit or a vegetable vendor from where these tricksters start following their targets after checking the valuables in their cars. Teams have been assigned to check CCTV cameras near the spots where the thefts occurred and work on several aspects to trace the gang,” he added.
Besides the oil leaks, such gangs also target women by alerting them to something falling out of their vehicles or by throwing oil or colour on their clothes or vehicles, confusing the victims.
“We are also going through files related to several accused involved in such cases earlier or history-sheeters suspected to be involved. A team has been assigned to check all the records to get some leads,” the ACP added.
PANCHKULA: GANG TRICKS DRIVERS INTO GETTING OUT OF THEIR CARS TO CHECK OIL LEAKS, AND FLEES WITH THEIR VALUABLES