Police nabs kingpin of auto theft syndicate

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police’s Crime Branch has arrested the mastermind of an auto lifter syndicate and an associate for selling stolen luxurious cars on Cars24 and CarsDekho.com.

The accused were identified as Danish Khan alias Doctor (32) resident of Azad Nagar, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and Shadab (39) resident of Naya Bazaar, Sarai Jokha, Nehtaur, Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh.

According to the police, the arrests were made by a team from the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch led by Inspector Ashish Sharma, under the supervision of senior officers ACP Rohitash Kumar, DCP Vikram Singh, and Additional Commissioner Sanjay Bhatia.

The operation, which took place on the night of October 17-18, was the result of extensive manual and electronic surveillance.

Danish Khan had been on the run since the first arrest in the case, using WhatsApp to communicate and frequently changing mobile numbers to avoid detection.

His location in Jaipur was eventually traced through IP details gathered from his WhatsApp activity.

The Crime Branch team swiftly moved in and apprehended Danish and Shadab, who had outstanding non-bailable warrants, at a hotel near Jaipur’s Sanganer Airport.

During interrogation, Danish confessed to selling two additional vehicles, a Toyota Innova and a Toyota Fortuner, to buyers for Rs 16 lakh and Rs 25 lakh respectively.

These vehicles had fake registration numbers and

were found to be connected to FIRs filed in Delhi’s Govind Puri and Malviya Nagar police stations.

Further investigations revealed that Danish had been procuring stolen cars from a supplier named Mustkeen, based in Ahmedabad.

The stolen vehicles were tampered with by an accomplice named Shafique in Muradabad, who altered their identities before they were sold. The Crime Branch is continuing efforts to locate and arrest these individuals.