Auto thief who did plastic surgery to evade arrest held

New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) An auto thief involved in 62 cases and who underwent plastic surgery to avoid arrest has been arrested along with two accomplices, police said on Sunday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Romil Baaniya said Kunal, a resident of Delhi, was arrested from Nehru Place in south Delhi on October 13.

The officer said he used to steal vehicles and sell them.

Kunal’s interrogation led to his accomplice Irshad Ali as well as Mohammad Shadab who used to buy stolen cars from them, police said. Both Ali and Shadab were from Uttar Pradesh.

Baaniya said Kunal was involved in 62 cases of vehicle thefts in Delhi and neighbouring areas and he was declared a proclaimed offender. He had undergone plastic surgery about four years back to change his identity in order to avoid arrest.

Police seized 12 cars following the arrests.

Their interrogation revealed that before stealing a car, the accused first found vehicles declared as "total loss" by insurance companies but whose documents had not been destroyed.

Baaniya said that once the accused got hold of the documents, they would find similar cars and then steal them.

They would then change the chassis and engine number of the vehicles and sell them in the market.

Police are trying to arrest others who helped the accused.