In a major crackdown on vehicle theft cases, the Gurugram police have nabbed the kingpin who is also a dealer of stolen luxury cars stolen from Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and other States and after changing their engine number, chassis number and vehicle number and sold them in the faraway northeastern States and in Gurugram, police said on Thursday.

The arrested car dealer confessed before the police that he has sold 50 stolen luxury cars in Gurugram after fabricating their engine,chassis and registration numbers.

The nexus was unearthed by the police with the arrest of two culprits identified as Ankit of Hisar and Zalal of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh of thesgang on December 17, 2020 by the crime unit Sector-10 of the Gurugram police.

With the arrest of the duo police claimed to have solved 9 cases of vehicle which reported in Gurugram.

The kingpin was identified as Kikheto of Dimapur district in Nagaland.

The police team seized 2 number plates, 1 tab (used to unlock vehicles), 3 sockets, 1 lead, 01 plate instrument, 1 device emulator and 1 master key from the arrested duo accused. While 1 tab, 4 fake engines / chassis number plates and 4 fake number plates (of Arunachal Pradesh Authority) were also recovered from the possession of the alleged car dealer.

The tab which used to unlock vehicles was purchased by the accused for Rs. 2 lakhs, the police said.

In connection with the incident a complaint was filed by Umed Singh, a resident of Gurugram in September 2019. In his complaint he stated that his Fortuner was stolen outside from his house.

A case in this regard was registered at the Sector-10 A police station in Gurugram.

Meanwhile, the two accused revealed that they were part of a gang active in Gurugram that had stolen two Fortuner cars from Gurugram and sold it to Kikheto who is an illegal dealer of luxury cars in Nagaland.

According to the police, Ankit and Zalal were arrested on December 17 and were on eight days police remand.

During interrogation the duo accused disclosed that they used to open the luxury car with the help of a tab (device). They had easily attached the luxury car software with their tab and unlocked the car and after stealing the car they took it to Dimapur, Nagaland and sold the vehicle to an illegal dealer of luxury cars for Rs 5.50 lakh.

“After their disclosure the crime unit Sector-10 led by Sub-Inspector Dalpat Singh swung into an action and with the help of technical support and lead inputs about the dealer of luxury car received from the sources the police team arrested him on December 21 and took him on six days transit remand after producing him in Dimapur court,” said Preet Pal Sangwan, ACP (crime).

The car dealer was on December 26 was produced before a court in Gurugram which sent him 13 days police remand later on January 12 he was again produced in district court which again sent him on 4 police remand.

“During police questioning the kingpin Kikheto revealed that he used to buy stolen vehicles from various districts including Haryana, Delhi and NCR region, Rajasthan and other states in large scale and then fraudulently changed the engine number and chassis number of those vehicles and after making fake registrations he sold the vehicles.

The accused confessed that around 50 of such luxury vehicles have been sold in Gurugram. Further probe is underway,” Sangwan said.