Cops bust inter-state car lifter gang, arrest nine

Mumbai: The Thane police has arrested nine members of an inter-state gang of car lifter, who allegedly stole more than 100 vehicles from several states.

The Thane joint commissioner of police, Madhukar Pandey, said that the police have recovered as many as 80 vehicles valued at around Rs 3.4 crore from Pune, Mumbai (in Maharashtra), and some places in Rajasthan and Karnataka.

The gang was operating from the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan and the northeast region, he said.

During the investigation, the police learnt about the gang’s involvement in theft of around 170 vehicles, Mr Pandey said.

The police first received a complaint in December 2018 of a car theft from the Thane city. During the investigation, they traced the vehicle to Pune and seized it.

All the nine accused were subsequently nabbed in the last few days for their alleged involvement in various cases of car thefts, Mr Pandey said.

The modus operandi of the gang was to first steal the vehicle, take it to a godown in Pune and then obtain a fake registration certificate (RC) book for it from Nagaland. They would later change details of the car’s engine and chassis before selling the vehicles in Belgaum in Karnataka and Rajasthan, the police official said.

Following their arrest, the accused were produced in a local court, which remanded them to police custody till February 14, the official added.