Mangalore: Inter-state gang of vehicle thieves busted

TNN / Udayavani

Mangalore, 26 February 2011: Dakshina Kannada rural police busted an inter-state gang of vehicle thieves and recovered 22 motorcycles, 14 four-wheelers, including two tippers and as many lorries, vans and sports utility vehicles valued at nearly Rs 1 crore from them. The recovery process of these stolen vehicles started with the arrest of two accused, Mohideen of Manjeshwar in Kasargod and Haneef of Jokatte, who were using stolen motorcycles, on February 18.

 

SP DK rural police district A S Rao on Friday said a team of police officers under the guidance of Puttur ASP Rohini Katoch and headed by Bantwal CPI Nanjunde Gowda unravelled the working of this inter-state gang that stole vehicles in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala. The gang then sold the same to unsuspecting buyers using forged vehicle documents all over Karnataka, he said.

 

 

The arrest and subsequent interrogation of Mohideen and Haneef lead the police team to Sayyed Nihal, the kingpin of the racket, a native of Shimoga settled in Bangalore. Describing Nihal as a habitual offender on whom 24 cases of vehicle thefts have been registered across Karnataka, the SP said Nihal ran his racket from behind bars in Bangalore jail. Police arrested S Ashraf of Kukkaje in Bantwal and Moideen Sharief of Chippinakatte, Hassan later.

 

 

The police team is on the lookout for four more persons said to be involved in this racket, based on the statements given by the accused, SP said, adding that one of them is a person from Bangalore who helped this gang by preparing forged vehicle documents for them to sell it to buyers. Nanjunde Gowda said the police team has also recovered five more vehicles including two lorries and these vehicles are on their way to the city for further legal action.

 

 

Announcing a reward of Rs 10,000 to this team, Rao said police investigations will also focus on how the gang managed to get these vehicles registered with the respective RTOs on the basis of the forged documents produced by them. Most of these stolen vehicles were sold to buyers using forged license plates, mostly from Hubli and Dharwad RTOs (KA 25 series). The gang obtained vehicle loans from finance companies based on these forged documents.