Sacked Manipur constable among four held for stealing high-end cars

New Delhi: Since 2013, a gang operating in the national Capital used to send stolen high-end vehicles from Delhi to Manipur for sale, but not before transforming them befond recognition and giving the cars a new look.

The accused used to hire innocent drivers, who were in the dark about the racket, and then take the car to other states.

The gang, which consists of a sacked Manipur police constable and an MBA, was running smoothly. But their luck ran out, as four members of their gang were apprehended from different parts of Delhi.

Police suspect that over 200 vehicles were sent to other states, after their chassis number were changed and their papers were forged.

"We have not found the role of any government official from Delhi in forging of the papers, but we are probing whether officials from other states were involved in the racket," said an investigator.

Police further claimed that the vehicles were sold at highly discounted rates. If the original cost of the vehicle was Rs 14 lakh, the accused sold them for Rs two to three lakh.

Police said the accused were identified as Asker Ahmad (34), Mohammad Fakruddin (31), Sorokhaibam Chorijit Singh (25) and Abdul Gaffar Khan (34), all natives of Manipur. The team who made the arrest was led by Inspector Richhpal Singh.

"Asker Ahmad is an MBA holder whereas Fakruddin was selected as constable in IRB forces, Manipur Police," said the police.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Romil Baaniya stated that the first breakthrough in the case came when they arrested Asker on March 27 from Pushp Vihar, Saket.

He confessed that he has already transported more than 50 stolen cars to Manipur. He further confessed that after preparing forged documents, he managed to register these vehicles afresh in different District Transport Officer (DTO) office in Manipur.

"On his instance, five Creta cars, one Chevrolet Cruze car (all having registration certificate issued by different DTO offices in Manipur) and two Fortuner cars were recovered from Imphal, Manipur. One BMW Seven Series car was recovered from Kotla Mubarakpur. Later on April 8, other members of the syndicate were apprehended from Kotla Mubarakpur," said the DCP.

Police further claimed that the gang used innocent drivers for delivery of the car to another state so that if they are caught no one can trace the real accused behind the delivery.

Asker Ahmad had started a US-based medical process call centre at Gurugram. From the call center operation, he gained the knowledge about the medical process and salt composition of each and every medicine.

He came to know that there is a huge demand for salt 'Pseudoephedrine' in China for synthesizing relevant drugs.

Through call center, he contacted representatives of these Pharma companies and started delivering strips of these medicines and transported them illegally from Delhi to China through Myanmar from Manipur.

He was arrested and after he came out of the jail, he started purchasing stolen vehicles and Abdul Gaffar forged documents and sent these vehicles to Imphal, Manipur.

These tampered vehicles were later registered on different registration numbers in Manipur.

Fakruddin was a constable in Manipur Police and later dismissed from the services as he was found involved in cases of auto lifting.