'Vegetable vendors' sold over 20 stolen luxury cars: How Delhi Police busted gang of auto lifters

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Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested four men from Punjab who were allegedly a part of a well-organised interstate racket dealing in stolen luxury vehicles. A total of 21 high-end cars, including Toyota Fortuners, Mahindra Thars, and Hyundai Cretas, were recovered during the operation, police said on Tuesday.

According to a report by The Indian Express, all vehicles had fake number plates, forged registration documents, and tampered engine and chassis numbers. The arrests came after weeks of surveillance and tracking unusual movement patterns of luxury vehicles, particularly around midnight.

Delhi Police studied the pattern of vehicle thefts, including timing and CCTV footage from various cases, which revealed that the accused mostly operate at midnight and primarily target luxury cars. It was found that some receivers from Punjab were active in Delhi, taking stolen cars to Punjab, where they were modified and resold with forged documents, especially in border districts.

Acting on a tip-off on May 7, a team of the Delhi crime branch intercepted a blue Maruti Baleno on the DND Flyway. “On May 7, information was received that Avtar would come in a stolen car with a fake number and go to Punjab. A trap was laid, and the vehicle was intercepted. Avtar and Harpreet were inside the car. Upon checking the engine and chassis numbers, the car was found to have been stolen from Saket,” The New Indian Express quoted Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Apoorva Gupta as saying.

During interrogation, the duo admitted to regularly receiving and reselling stolen vehicles in cities like Amritsar and Ludhiana. They revealed they had been involved in over 15 such deals and identified their suppliers. Following this, police took them into remand and carried out raids in Punjab’s Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts. This led to the arrest of two more men, namely, Paramdeep from Ludhiana and Manpreet from Ferozepur.

According to the police, the gang purchased stolen SUVs for Rs 4–5 lakh each. They would then tamper with the vehicle details and create fake documents before reselling them as legal vehicles.

Each of the accused came from different backgrounds. Avtar was once a property dealer but turned to selling vegetables after financial losses. Harpreet, a BCA graduate, worked on a pig farm in Cyprus before returning to India and entering the illegal trade. Paramdeep had owned an auto-parts factory that shut during the pandemic. Manpreet, a civil engineer and former driver, had a criminal history and was going through a divorce, the report said.

The recovered cars were linked to multiple cases filed across Delhi and NCR regions, including Saket, Dwarka, Vasant Vihar, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon. Investigations are ongoing to trace more accomplices and vehicles.