Interstate gang of car thieves busted, two held

AURANGABAD: The detection branch of the city police has claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of car lifters and cheats with the arrest of two mechanics on Tuesday. The police also seized four cars that were stolen from Delhi and Haryana. .
The police are yet to nab the kingpin of the gang, hailing from Kolkata, and a couple of mediators, one of whom has already left the country.
The arrested suspects have been identified as Sultan Mirza Baig (24) and his associate Tayyab Saeed Saalam (26), both residents of Rauza Baugh area of the city.
The other suspects are Manish Thakkar (kingpin), currently operating from Kolkata and hailing from Orissa, Azghar Khan (fled the country) and Imran Khan.
Out of the four cars seized from the suspects, two have been traced to Delhi where cases of theft have been registered at the police stations of Hauz Khas and Model Town. One car, owned by Suresh Chandra Sharma, was stolen from Delhi on January 12, 2014, while the other one, owned by Surendra Kumar Sapra, was stolen on July 20, 2014.
Following the arrests, the companies that had financed the stolen cars and the RTO officials who may have helped the suspects prepare bogus documents are on the radar of the police.
The Jinsi police started working on the case over a month ago after getting a specific tip. They first rounded up Baig, from whom two Suzuki Swift cars were seized – one from his accomplice and one from Malegaon, where they had sold it a few days earlier.
Deputy commissioner of police Arvind Chawria said, “The suspects operated in a very professional manner. Thakkar would supply stolen cars to his gang members here, who would allegedly co-ordinate with some RTO officials and get bogus documents prepared for each vehicle they procured from the northern states.”
To get the bogus documents prepared, Thakkar would provide the NOC of an existing car in one of the states from where they used to lift cars and according to the details on the NOC, Baig and Saalam would alter the chassis number of the stolen car here.
During the interrogation, the arrested suspects have revealed that the agent at the RTO office would charge around Rs 75,000 for preparing bogus documents of the vehicle and would also provide smart card RC book. The agent is absconding, the police said.
Jinsi police inspector Shivaji Kamble said, “Baig, an expert four-wheeler mechanic, was introduced to the Kolkata-based kingpin by Azghar and Imran, who were introduced to him by one Rashid Patel. We expect to get more startling information as we are probing the RTO office angle in the case.”
Kamble said that Thakkar had gifted a smartphone to Baig for smooth co-ordination among them.
As per the statement given by Baig, he was paid around Rs 15,000 on selling each car and he joined the gang to make money to open a four-wheeler garage.