The 20-member gang with pan India presence stole nearly 35 vehicles.
Additional CP Swati Lakra inspects the seized vehicles in Hyderabad on Tuesday. (Photo: DC)
Hyderabad: The police busted an interstate automobile theft racket on Tuesday. The 20-member gang with pan India presence stole nearly 35 vehicles. Police said the gang used to acquire the list of scrapped vehicles from insurance companies and purchase them. After that they remove the chassis, engine and the engine control module (ECM). Then they steal a same model vehicle and use its parts to rebuild the vehicle purchased as scrap. After that they sell the vehicle in other states. Six members of the gang were arrested and 13 vehicles worth around Rs 3 crore were seized from them. The police arrested P. Shiva, G. Ratna Kishore, K. Srinivas Rao, Vijay Naseebchand Dhaman and Tanveer Kasam Bhagwan. One Nazeer is absconding.
Addl. CP Swati Lakra said that Sangepu Chakradhar a graduate in hotel management and a resident of RR district set up the gang with seven others. He appointed agents across India and through them collected accident damaged vehicles sold as scrap. “After that he tells his men to steal a similar vehicle. The stolen vehicle is taken to their workshop at Brahmanapally. The gang removes parts from the stolen vehicle and fits them into the scrapped vehicle,” said Swati. After that they take the vehicle to Dilip Chabbria Designs, a car decor store in Coimbatore and rebuild the vehicle with new seats and tires. After that they get it registered legally with the RTA and sell it, police said. Stolen cars are traced using ECM. So the gang used to remove this from the vehicle before remodelling it.
Since 2013, the gang stole 35 cars. Out of these nine cars were mortgaged with finance firms at Vizag and they took Rs 45 lakh as loan. Based on a tip off, police intercepted a Scorpio a few days ago near Malakpet X roads. Seeing the cops, Chandrashekar abandoned the vehicle and fled. But the cops chased and nabbed him. Based on his confession, cops arrested P. Shiva, G. Ratna Kishore, K. Srinivas Rao, Vijay Naseebchand Dhaman and Tanveer Kasam Bhagwan. One Nazeer is absconding. Cops seized 22 remodelled vehicles worth around Rs 3 crore.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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