In gang of vehicle thieves, a 2017 UP polls candidate

Ghaziabad: Seven members of a vehicle-lifters’

gang

were arrested on Monday and 14 luxury vehicles were recovered from them.

The recovered vehicles included five Maruti Brezza, one Toyota Fortuner, one Hyundai Creta, a Swift Dzire, two Maruti Swift and four Royal Enfield motorcycles.

Police said the gang members stole vehicles “on the demand” of their clientèle.

One of the arrested persons, Vishal Kashyap, had contested UP assembly elections in 2017 from Muzaffarnagar’s Baghra constituency on the ticket of Peace Party of India.

Another gang member, Upendra alias Nitu was the chairman of Sahkari Sashan Samiti in Muzaffarnagar’s Lalu Kheri village in 2004.

Prior to that, he had gone to jail in 1999 from Haridwar for a case registered against him under the Arms Act.

The third person, Aman, is pursuing his graduation from a college in Noida.

The three along with one Anil, a resident of Bulandshahr and Shekhar acted as dealers and sold the vehicles to customers at cheaper rates.

Two other gang members who were arrested — Liyaqat alias Pappu and Anuj — used to steal the vehicles and sell them to dealers after forging registration, engine and chassis numbers.

Talking about the gang’s modus operandi, SSP Vaibhav Krishna said that they would change the

vehicle

registration and chassis numbers to avoid detection. Most of the time they used the registration number of those vehicles that met with an accident and were not in use.

The seven were arrested from near Ram Chameli Chaddha Chowk following a tip-off. Of the 14 vehicles recovered, owners of three stolen vehicles have been identified, the SSP added. “The gang has been active for past six months and stole vehicles from Delhi, NCR, Meerut and Allahabad. So far, they have confessed to selling 50 luxury vehicles to customers. We are questioning them to get more details.”