Father, son, son-in-law ran SUV theft syndicate in Delhi, stole 25 SUVs in 10 months; all three held | Delhi News
NEW DELHI: Stealing high-end SUVs from upscale areas in Delhi and selling them became a family operation for a 56-year-old man and his son and son-in-law over the past 10 months. All of them have been arrested. The trio didn’t include anyone else in the gang to prevent any information leak, said police. Using sophisticated tools to bypass vehicle security systems, they managed to steal 20-25 SUVs over this period and sold them illegally through receivers based in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. After studying the pattern and timing of the thefts and analysing CCTV footage from various cases, police found that the gang primarily operated during the early hours of the day, targeting three specific types of SUVs—Hyundai Creta, Fortuner and Maruti Brezza—usually stationed near parks and gyms. The footage showed them disabling, starting and stealing the vehicles in five to seven minutes, often taking only a few seconds to gain entry.Deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka) Ankit Singh said during the investigation, around 200 CCTV cameras were reviewed. Footage revealed that a car was repeatedly seen trailing the stolen vehicles in multiple incidents. Acting on a tipoff, police laid a trap near a drain in Uttam Nagar and arrested Raman, a resident of Rohini, along with his son Sagar, as they arrived in a white car with a fake numberplate. The vehicle was found to be stolen.Upon searching the car, police recovered several tools commonly used for car theft, including two car scanners, one hand clip with wire, two key connectors, one engine control module, two hammers, six lock T tools, a wire cutter, a cutting plier, twelve keys and two numberplates.Interrogation revealed that Raman and Sagar were part of a family-based gang in Delhi, which also included Neeraj, Raman’s son-in-law, who was arrested later. Records showed that Raman was involved in 18 such cases, Sagar in 12 and Neeraj in 14. The accused admitted to stealing 20-25 SUVs.Raman, identified as the gang’s kingpin, explained that he formed this close-knit, family-only gang to avoid leaks and prevent infiltration by unknown associates. Their unique modus operandi involved using sophisticated tools to exploit the vehicles’ onboard diagnostic ports. These ports, typically used by authorised technicians to diagnose vehicle systems, were manipulated by the gang to disable security systems and steal the cars. New Delhi: Stealing high-end SUVs from upscale areas in Delhi and selling them became a family operation for a 56-year-old man and his son and son-in-law over the past 10 months. All of them have been arrested. The trio didn’t include anyone else in the gang to prevent any information leak, said police. Using sophisticated tools to bypass vehicle security systems, they managed to steal 20-25 SUVs over this period and sold them illegally through receivers based in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. After studying the pattern and timing of the thefts and analysing CCTV footage from various cases, police found that the gang primarily operated during the early hours of the day, targeting three specific types of SUVs—Hyundai Creta, Fortuner and Maruti Brezza—usually stationed near parks and gyms. The footage showed them disabling, starting and stealing the vehicles in five to seven minutes, often taking only a few seconds to gain entry.Deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka) Ankit Singh said during the investigation, around 200 CCTV cameras were reviewed. Footage revealed that a car was repeatedly seen trailing the stolen vehicles in multiple incidents. Acting on a tipoff, police laid a trap near a drain in Uttam Nagar and arrested Raman, a resident of Rohini, along with his son Sagar, as they arrived in a white car with a fake numberplate. The vehicle was found to be stolen.Upon searching the car, police recovered several tools commonly used for car theft, including two car scanners, one hand clip with wire, two key connectors, one engine control module, two hammers, six lock T tools, a wire cutter, a cutting plier, twelve keys and two numberplates.Interrogation revealed that Raman and Sagar were part of a family-based gang in Delhi, which also included Neeraj, Raman’s son-in-law, who was arrested later. Records showed that Raman was involved in 18 such cases, Sagar in 12 and Neeraj in 14. The accused admitted to stealing 20-25 SUVs.Raman, identified as the gang’s kingpin, explained that he formed this close-knit, family-only gang to avoid leaks and prevent infiltration by unknown associates. Their unique modus operandi involved using sophisticated tools to exploit the vehicles’ onboard diagnostic ports. These ports, typically used by authorised technicians to diagnose vehicle systems, were manipulated by the gang to disable security systems and steal the cars.
