In 2018, nearly 4,318 vehicles stolen in Gurugram

Gurugram: In the year 2018, nearly 4,318 vehicles were stolen in the streets in Gurugram, a five per cent increase from the previous year. To deal with the law and order challenge the Gurugram police now plan to work closely with civic agencies in form of command and control centre and CCTV's so that 2019 witnesses less of such incidents. There are plans to install over 7000 CCTV's in various parts of the city.

Vehicles thefts continue to show an upward trend in the city even as there have been special teams formed by Gurugram Police to check the rising cases of theft of vehicles. There had been more than 3800 cases of vehicle thefts registered in Gurugram in 2017 which in 2017 rose to 4100 vehicles.

Significantly, 40 per cent of these stolen automobiles is not recovered by the District police.

One of the major reasons for such a low rate of recovery is that these crimes are committed by gangs from Mewat and outside states like Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

"Most of the burglars that have been caught by our team belong from Mewat. However, there have also been gangs from Rajasthan and Delhi who indulge in vehicle thefts. Unlike earlier where vehicle thefts used to be carried out by two or three skilled robbers now there are a group of five to ten robbers who commit the crime," said a senior police official from Gurugram police.

"As there are large numbers of robbers from outside areas now who indulge in the crime, it has become a challenge for the Police to catch hold of them," he added.

Not only are the burglars are targeting their victims on the outskirts of the city but also targeting people in posh and densely populated parts of the city.

According to police officials, there is a lot of planning that goes by the automobile thieves in their implementation. Based on the planning and information they gather most of the robbers choose the place, time and even victims to carry out the crime.

Being more brazen, the burglars in most of the situations are also increasingly stealing vehicles by intimidating their victims with guns or sharp objects.

The stolen vehicles are then taken to their areas where robbers make the profit based on the valuations of the vehicle. In certain occasions the profit as low as Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 in selling the vehicular spare parts.