August 26, 2011 1:45:59 am
Mohali cops blame tampering of engine,chasis numbers
The much-hyped massive recovery of stolen luxury vehicles by the Mohali police has turned out to be just a number game,as in spite of having 51 cars in its custody,only seven owners have been identified.
The police are blaming tampering of original engine and chasis numbers for making it difficult to find the owners of these vehicles.
The investigating officers say a few of the cars are expected to have been stolen from Delhi,for which they are in touch with their counterparts in Delhi police.
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The recovered cars are gathering dust in various police stations of Mohali district.
While 26 cars are parked at Kharar police station,five are in Mattaur police station and 13 in Zirakpur. These include Mitsubishi Pajero,Toyota Innova,Mahindra Scorpio,Hyundai Verna and various other high-end vehicles.
We have given an intimation regarding the recovery of these cars to the National Crime Registration Bureau. We have not contacted the people as cases of theft have been registered at different places. Moreover,most of these cars are bearing fake registration,chassis and engine numbers,which makes it difficult for us to trace the actual owners, Mohalis Senior Superintendent of Police G P S Bhullar told Newsline.
The police now expect people to come and approach them,searching for their stolen vehicles. People are not coming forward to claim their vehicles,as many must have already claimed insurance for their stolen vehicles, said one of the officers at Kharar police station.
But Gurcharan Singh,in-charge of Kharar police station,said some cars are being released. The cases have been registered at different places and the investigating official of a particular case has to take the cars with him,then only it can be released.
Last month,Punjab police busted an inter-state vehicle lifter gang by arresting nine members and recovered 51 stolen luxury vehicles from their possession. The police claimed that estimated cost of the entire recovery was around Rs 4.7 crore.
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