Over 105 motor vehicles were reported stolen everyday between January 1 and April 15 this year in the city, showing an alarming increase in vehicle theft cases in the national capital.
As many as 11,116 motor vehicles were reported stolen between January 1 and April 15 this year, as compared to a little less then 8,000 during the corresponding period in 2015, according to police records.
Of the cases reported till April 15 this year, the highest pertained to the eastern range (3,117) of the city, followed by northern (2,452) and south-western (2,383) ranges.
The data, compiled since 2001 (when around 22 motor vehicles were reported stolen per day), shows that the graph never reached that high. In 2015, around 90 such cases per day were reported.
However, the rate of recovery of stolen motor vehicle remain a little less than 5 per cent, a rate more or less constant in the past 15 years.
Last year Delhi Police had launched an e-FIR system for motor vehicle theft cases. Under this system, an e-police station investigates all such cases and provides the complainant with a vehicle untraced report, necessary for an insurance claim.
This system has made things convenient for both complainants and the police. Technically, local police have given up on such cases and recoveries happen mostly by operations of special staff of police districts, who focus on tracking gangs operating in and around their areas, a senior official said.
In a crackdown against auto-lifters operating in the city, Delhi Police claimed to have unearthed at least 15 active gangs between April 1 and 20 and recovered over 110 motor vehicles.
"The rate at which trained auto-lifters can dismantle motor vehicles is surprising. The parts are later sold off either in the black market or as scrap. Meerut and Muzaffarnagar have turned out to be thriving markets in this regard," the official said.
In one of the cases, the police came across a gang which procured cars with damaged bodies through a website, which was set up for auction of vehicles damaged during the Chennai floods. They used to preserve the engines and other vital parts, discarding the others as scrap.
These vital parts they used to fit inside stolen cars and sell them off as genuine second-hand vehicles. With this trick they also evaded arrest as motor vehicles are often identified by chassis numbers.
Another gang, which was unearthed recently, was a master of dismantling. They had a range of accessories -- including mirrors, lights and shock absorbers taken apart from stolen vehicles -- to offer its clientele.
The police have also tracked some stolen motor vehicle receivers in Punjab. Efforts are on to dig deeper into the nexus, the official added.
