2 notorious vehicle thieves nailed

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, January 15

Two notorious vehicle thieves have been arrested by the Chandigarh Police and 16 vehicles, including six cars, have been recovered from their possession.

A team, led by Inspector Amanjot Singh, SHO of the Sector 39 police station, nabbed the vehicle thieves, identified as Manoj, alias Namuna (37), a resident of Makhan Majra, and Ibrar Khan (35), a resident of Zirakpur. The police said Manoj was arrested from near the grain market chowk in Sector 39 on January 10 while riding a stolen Honda City car. The complainant in the case, Mamta Sharma of Sector 37, had reported that her Honda car, which was parked near her house, was stolen on the intervening night of January 7 and 8.

The police produced Manoj in the court on January 11 and procured his five-day remand. The police said during the interrogation of the suspect, two more Honda City cars were recovered from the grain market, Maloya, on disclosure made by him. The vehicles were stolen in November and December from the area falling under the jurisdiction of the Sector 26 police station.

A police official said during his interrogation, the suspect also revealed the name of his accomplice, Ibrar Khan. The police then nabbed Ibrar and recovered another Honda City, owned by Avtar Singh, which was stolen from Sector 38 on January 4. The police said on the disclosure of Ibrar, two more cars, including a Honda Accord and a Maruti 800, besides 10 two-wheelers — six motorcycles and four Activa scooters — which were stolen from different parts of the tricity, were recovered.

Criminal past

Ibrar Khan is a notorious criminal with 11 criminal cases registered against him in Chandigarh. At least 24 cases have been registered against him in different states, including Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Ibrar Khan was awarded seven-year imprisonment in 2017. He was also been awarded two-year imprisonment by a Moradabad court in UP. Manoj, alias Namuna, was also awarded three years each imprisonment in two cases in February 2017.

Had stolen 25 vehicles

The police said the suspects had stolen around 25 vehicles from the tricity, which they sold to scrap dealers in Shamli, UP. However, due to strictness following anti-CAA protests in UP, the suspects could not sell the stolen vehicles following which they dumped them at parking lots.

Modus operandi

Both suspects disclosed that they were involved in several criminal cases “to meet household expenses and also to pay the fee of their advocates”. They used to steal vehicles with a master key and targeted cars which did not have auto-cop locks. In these stolen vehicles, they used to visit different cities to identify shops and later in the night, they used to commit thefts there.