New Delhi: Three inter-state vehicle thieves were arrested in west Delhi after a stolen SUV fitted with a fake registration number attempted to mow down police personnel during interception, leaving two policemen injured, officials said on Friday.
The arrests followed sustained ground surveillance which revealed that the Kia Seltos SUV was allegedly being used in several high-end vehicle theft cases across the capital. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Darade Sharad Bhaskar, the vehicle carrying a duplicated number plate had repeatedly been spotted near the Vivek Vihar ITI underpass around 11 pm over the past few days, raising suspicion.
Acting on specific intelligence inputs, a police team laid a trap on the intervening night of January 15 and 16. When officers signalled the SUV to stop, the occupants allegedly attempted to flee and drove the vehicle directly towards the police personnel in a life-threatening manner.
Head constable Devender and constable Manish were struck by the speeding SUV and thrown onto the footpath, sustaining injuries. During the escape attempt, the accused also rammed into public vehicles, triggering panic among commuters on the busy road stretch, police said.
Despite the injuries and risk involved, the police team managed to surround the vehicle and overpower all three accused after a brief struggle. The arrested men were identified as Mashrur (56), Asif (42) and Aqeel (40), all residents of Uttar Pradesh.
The injured policemen were immediately shifted to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, where their medico-legal examinations were conducted. Police said separate legal action will be initiated for the attack on law enforcement personnel.
During verification, the SUV was found to have been stolen from the Mukherjee Nagar area on September 2 last year. Investigators said the accused had been using the stolen vehicle as a “working car” to conduct reconnaissance and carry out vehicle thefts in different parts of Delhi.
A case has been registered at Vivek Vihar police station, and further investigation is underway. Police said Mashrur has at least 17 previous criminal cases against him, Aqeel is allegedly involved in 27 cases, while Asif has a criminal history of two cases. Efforts are on to trace the gang’s network and link their involvement to other vehicle thefts reported in Delhi and neighbouring states.
