Two men arrested on charges of auto theft in West Delhi

Two men were arrested on charges of auto theft in Mayapuri in West Delhi, police said on Friday.

The accused -- Neeraj Tiwari (30) and his associate Zeeshan Ahmad (31) -- were nabbed on Thursday, they said.

They were involved in auto-lifting in west Delhi, Dwarka and Outer districts of the city, they said, police said.

Three cars and two motorcycles were recovered from their possession, they said.

"During interrogation, the accused revealed that they met in jail and became friends," said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Sameer Sharma.

"Tiwari is an expert in breaking open high-end cars and installing new Engine Control Module (ECM) in vehicles bypassing the original system to start them," he said.

Ahmad ran a car repairing shop in Seemapuri and he had contacts of auto-lifters. He took Rs 20,000-25,000 as commission from Tiwari for disposing stolen cars, the DCP said said.

Earlier, Tiwari was arrested in February this year and and released on bail in May. At the time of his arrest, 10 stolen cars were recovered from him, he said.

He used to send the stolen cars to his receivers in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, Sharma said.

However, after being released from the jail, he was not able to procure the computer system used for programming keys of new model high-end cars. So he was dealing in old cars and the vehicles which are started by inserting keys, he added.

Ahmad was arrested several times in the past in cases of auto theft, police said.