Kingpin of 'thak-thak' gang held for stealing woman's purse

A 23-year-old man, who is the kingpin of a 'thak-thak' gang, has been arrested within a hour of allegedly stealing a woman's purse after puncturing her car's tyres in south Delhi's Saket, the police said today.
Such gangs first distract a car driver either by knocking hard on the car windows or by puncturing tyres or by minor accidents and then flee with valuables kept in the car.
On October 21, the police were informed by the woman that her handbag containing Rs 55,000, her cell phone, her ID proofs and bank passbooks had been stolen from her car, they said.

According to the police, when the woman was going towards Gurgaon, she noticed that her car had a punctured tyre and stopped the vehicle near Dhaula Peer on Mehrauli-Badarpur Road in Saket.
The woman told the police that as soon as she stopped the car, two people riding a motorcycle stopped by.
As one of them pretended to help her, the other person stole her handbag from the car and both of them fled on the motorbike, the police said.

A message about the incident was sent across to all police pickets in Saket and in less than an hour of the incident being reported, two bike-borne men, carrying a woman's handbag, were spotted near NBCC Plaza, they said.

One the two men, identified as Suraj, was nabbed following a chase, while the other managed to escape. The stolen handbag and a T-shaped iron piece was seized from him, the police said.
During interrogation, Suraj confessed that he lead a 'thak-thak' gang. He disclosed that the co-accused's name is Ramesh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ishwar Singh said.
Suraj revealed that he used the T-shaped iron piece to puncture the tyres of targeted vehicle at traffic red lights, the DCP said.