Bangalore police recover 50 stolen cars from gang

The Bangalore police have arrested a gang of inter-state car lifters and recovered from them a total of 50 stolen cars valued at over Rs 30 million.

The recovered cars, most of them sports utility vehicles, were kept on display at BRV Parade Grounds in Bangalore on Friday as part of the efforts of the police to track down the rightful owners.

The recovery of the 50 cars is said to be biggest haul of stolen cars by the police in Karnataka so far.

Bangalore City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidri told reporters that the six-member gang of car lifters used to lift cars parked in front of houses and later sell them off to unsuspecting buyers by creating fake documents.

The prime accused Lathief, 38, was nabbed when he was trying to dispose off a stolen vehicle in Cottonpet in Bangalore. Based on information provided by him during interrogation, the police zeroed in on his accomplices and traced the stolen cars.

Bidri said Lathief was involved in several car thefts in Karnataka and neighbouring Kerala. Though he had been caught a couple of years ago in Kerala and convicted for three years, he managed to escape from police custody while he was being brought to Karwar in Karnataka from Konnur jail in Kerala.

Later, Lathief joined hands with Rajan, a notorious car lifter, who has several non-bailable warrants pending against him in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The other members of the gang include Javid Khan, Raju Yadav and Sheikh Arif.

Bidri said the arrest of the car lifters had become important in the wake of the recent terror strikes in Bangalore. “For, stolen vehicles could have been used by the terrorists. We are investigating whether there were any links between the thefts and the terror strikes”, Bidri added.