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Jagran correspondent, New Delhi. The Crime Branch team has busted a high-tech car theft gang and arrested three accused including the gang leader. Two stolen Swift cars, a Brezza car, an electronic key cloning tab and duplicate car keys of Tata and Maruti Suzuki vehicles have been recovered from their possession.
The arrested accused have been identified as Sonu of Hapur, UP, Sandeep of Sonipat, Haryana and Ashish alias Deepu of Etawah, UP. The method of stealing the car by the accused was very different. He used an electronic tablet to connect to the vehicle's on-board diagnostic (OBD) port located below the dashboard.
Using the tablet, they programmed the blank keys to match the vehicle's unique security code, creating working duplicate keys to start the vehicle.
Used to park in Delhi-NCR to escape
After theft, the vehicles were parked in the NCR area including Delhi for 1-2 weeks to avoid detection and later sold in states far away from Delhi. After interrogating them, the police is busy searching for other accused involved in the gang.
According to Crime Branch Deputy Commissioner Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, in view of the increasing incidents of vehicle theft, a special team was deployed to keep an eye on the activities of the gang. During this time, HUD constable Amit had received secret information about an interstate gang that was stealing vehicles from Delhi and disposing of them outside NCR including Delhi.
On receiving information, a team formed under the supervision of ACP Sanjay Kumar Nagpal and led by Inspector Mangesh Tyagi and Inspector Robin Tyagi tracked the accused using advanced technical surveillance and human intelligence. Meanwhile, Sonu and Sandeep were caught on December 6.
Two days police remand to the accused
Swift car was recovered from their possession, which was stolen from Mangolpuri police station area. Both the accused were taken on police remand for two days. During interrogation, at the behest of Sandeep, another stolen Maruti Swift car was recovered from Sector-23, Sonipat, Haryana, which was stolen from Bawana police station area.
During the investigation, the third accused Ashish was arrested on December 8. On his trail, a Maruti Brezza car was recovered which was stolen from Saket. Apart from this, duplicate keys of Tata and Maruti Suzuki vehicles and an electronic tablet were recovered.
The accused have been involved in many cases including murder
Records check revealed that Sonu has previously been involved in 17 vehicle theft cases, of which 11 were registered in UP and six in Delhi. Whereas Sandeep has previously been involved in eight criminal cases, against which two cases including murder in Haryana including Gangster Act are registered. Ashish has previously been involved in 13 cases of vehicle theft registered in UP.