Alert after Colonel’s car is stolen

Car with Army Hospital stickers missing from Lodhi Gardens

Delhi police personnel were on their toes after a white Hyundai Santro car with two Army hospital stickers belonging to an Army Hospital doctor was stolen from South Delhi’s Lodhi Gardens on Sunday afternoon.

A senior police official said that they got a call about the incident at around 12.30 pm. The police official said that the car belonged to Army doctor Colonel Shailender Singh. Currently, he is posted at Army Hospital (Research and Referral) in the national capital. On Sunday, he came to Lodhi Gardens for a picnic along with his family in their white Hyundai Santro car with an Haryana number plate, HR51T6646. He parked the car in the parking lot.

“After a while Colonel Singh noted that the car was missing. He searched it and later called the PCR when it was not found,” the police said.

As soon as the police was notified, an alert was sounded and several police teams, including those of the Crime Branch, Special Cell and the local police, were roped in to track the missing vehicle. The neighbouring police were also informed and alerted to avoid untoward incidents.

“The Delhi police as well as neighbouring police have been alerted. We have learnt a lesson from the Pathankot terror strike in which the terrorists used the stolen car of a police official to get past several checkposts,” the official said.

According to a police source, the stickers were of the Defence Services Officers Institute (DSOI).

The source said that this was the third incident of a missing car to worry the Delhi police and the security agencies. He said that recently, a Tata Safari belonging to Anand Swarup, inspector-general of the Indo Tibetan Border Police, was stolen by unknown persons.

“The very day three unidentified men looted a taxi after hiring it from Himachal Pradesh. The driver of the taxi was found dead. These two incidents have also given the police sleepless nights. We fear this stolen vehicle could be used to carry out terrorist activities,” the police source said.