4 of gang nailed with 21 stolen vehicles in Mohali

Tribune News Service

Mohali, July 2

The police have busted an inter-state gang of vehicle thieves with the arrest of four members. Twenty-one luxury vehicles have been recovered from the suspects.

A case of theft, forgery and criminal conspiracy under Sections 379, 411, 420, 465, 467, 468, 473 and 120 of the IPC was registered at the Balongi police station on June 10. The police then launched an investigation into the case and arrested four persons, identified as Ramjeet Singh, Girish Bamby, alias Garry, Chanpreet Singh and Maninder Singh.

During the investigation, it came to light that the kingpin, Ramjeet Singh, who has studied till the senior secondary level, was booked in 70 to 80 cases of vehicle thefts in different states and was the kingpin of the gang. Ramjeet Singh is a proclaimed offender (PO) since 2012.

Another suspect, Chanpreet Singh, has also been booked in 20 to 25 criminal cases and is a PO after having jumped bail.

The suspects used to sell the stolen cars to Bamby, who would later tamper with the chasis number to sell the vehicles further. The police have named 16 suspects in the case and raids are on to nab them.

Modus operandi

The suspects used to open cars with a scale or used to break the rear window glass to open these. They used to bypass the Engine Control Module of the vehicle using zero ECM and start the vehicle. Then they used the ECM D-code of the stolen vehicle to steal the next vehicle.

The stolen vehicles were sold in different cities in India. The stolen vehicles were parked at parks in Amritsar and at parking lots in Tarn Taran district. The interrogation of the gang members has so far revealed that the gang has stolen about 100 cars. ‘’A total of 16 other suspects have been named during the investigation, who are yet to be arrested. A large number of stolen vehicles are likely to be recovered from them,’’ said Mohali SSP Satinder Singh.