From 2021 up to June 2024, the Chandigarh Police has registered FIRs for more than 3,200 stolen vehicles, but recovered only 790 of them, going by the official police data. The data shows that a total of 1,164 vehicles were stolen from different parts of the city in 2023, but only 258 were recovered within that year. In 2022, a total of 957 FIRs for vehicle thefts were registered across 16 police stations, but only 264 vehicles were found. In 2021, 495 vehicles were stolen from the city, but the police recovered 159 vehicles that year. Till June 30 this year, 596 cases of stolen vehicles have been registered so far, and only 109 of them have been worked out. The majority of vehicle thefts this year, approximately 70 per cent, involved two-wheelers. As per the data, most of the vehicles have been stolen from southern sectors of Chandigarh, which are under the police stations of sectors 34, 49, 36 and 39, from where 1,299 vehicles have been stolen since 2021. Under these four police stations, 204 vehicles were stolen in 2021; 371 in 2022; 476 in 2023; and 248 till June 30 this year. In the areas under the police stations of sectors 3, 17 and 11 as well, there is a spurt in theft of vehicles, with 95 cases reported in 2021, 193 cases in 2022, 268 in 2023, and 131 till June this year. A senior police officer said that since Chandigarh provides automatic untraced report in time, many people from Mohali and nearby areas in Punjab are reporting vehicle thefts in Chandigarh, so that untraced report can be used in claiming insurance. This is the reason why more registrations are happening in southern sectors. Also, the reporting of vehicle thefts has increased after the launch of e-FIR facility, added the police officer. However, no senior police officer was willing to go on record on the poor performance to solve the cases of vehicle theft. As per sources, mostly old four-wheelers are stolen the most. Very few new cars are stolen, since the new cars have better security systems, including GPS navigation and special computer chip-based keys which make it difficult for thieves to steal the vehicles. From the arrest of the accused in vehicle theft cases, it came to light that the thieves used to steal old vehicles with the master key, which could be inserted in any vehicle. The areas where the maximum vehicle thefts have been reported include sectors 35, 36, 42, 43, 52 and 53, which fall within the jurisdiction of Sector 36 police station; sectors 32, 33, 34, 44, 45 and 46, which fall within the jurisdiction of Sector 34 police station; sectors 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 54, 55 and 56, which come under the jurisdiction of Sector 39 police station; and sectors 48, 49, 50 and 51, which fall within the jurisdiction of Sector 49 police station. A car accessories store owner in Sector 27, Chandigarh, Surjit Kumar Grover, said that to secure car from thefts, there are gadgets available which include GPS tracker, gear lock and steering lock. The new cars already have GPS, which helps protect the vehicle from thefts. After a vehicle is stolen, the District Crime Cell and sometimes the Crime Branch teams work on the cases. The Chandigarh Police keeps in touch with the neighbouring police forces of Punjab and Haryana to track the vehicles, said Inspector Sarita Roy, the Station House Officer of Sector 17, Chandigarh. In the past, the vehicle lifting gangs used to park the stolen vehicles in parking lots and after getting fake documents prepared, they would affix fake number plates on the vehicles and sell them to innocent buyers in other states, including Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
