Weeks after a car belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda’s wife Mallika Nadda was stolen from a service centre at Govindpuri in southeast Delhi, the police on Sunday announced that they have arrested four men in connection with the crime, and have recovered the stolen Toyota Fortuner.
The arrested men have been identified as Shivansh Tripathi, Md Saleem, Md Raees and Furkaan Ahmed. Three others are still at large, police said.
Deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Rajesh Deo said, “The accused used a stolen Hyundai Creta car to gain access to the service centre and later lifted the car from there.”
Giving details of the case, police said the Fortuner was stolen on March 19, when Mallika Nadda’s staffers sent the vehicle for servicing in Govindpuri. Officers investigating the case said the driver dropped off the car at the service centre and left for lunch, but when he returned, he found that the car was missing and the staffers at the service centre had no clue about its whereabouts.
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Subsequently, police said that a team was put on the case, and footage from several CCTVs were scanned. “It was first found that the car was seen near Faridabad. We sent staff to look for suspects involved and auto thieves in the area. One of the accused, Tripathi, was identified with the help of local informers. He was not at his house and a search for him was initiated,” said a senior police officer involved in the case, on condition of anonymity.
The officer said that Tripathi was caught near Patiala House court on March 22, and during interrogation, the suspect said that his friend Shahid, Shahid’s son-in-law Farooq, and his associate Shahkul (all identified only by their first names) committed the theft.
According to police, the stolen Fortuner was first taken to Farooq’s farmhouse in Faridabad. “The car had stickers and the accused knew it was a BJP leader’s car. The men then took the car to a ‘receiver’ named Saleem, who sells cars to other receivers and transporters who can take the car to the Uttar Pradesh districts of Moradabad, Sitapur, Hathras, and Mainpuri, along with northeastern states,” the officer quoted above said.
A receiver is someone who buys stolen property from thieves and sells it to others.
DCP Deo said that based on the information they gathered, multiple raids were conducted at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, and Saleem was arrested.
“Saleem told us he sold the car in Sitapur to a man named Mohd Raees. We searched for Raees and arrested him. He told us he sold the car to Furkaan in Amroha. A police team was then sent to Amroha and later to Varanasi. The accused, along with the stolen Fortuner, were found in Varanasi,” the DCP said.
Police said while Tripathi is the main accused, he works with Shahid and his family to steal luxury cars. “Saleem and the other receivers help the gangs to dispose of the vehicles and/or sell them. They were planning to send the car to Assam or other northeastern states soon to evade police,” said the officer quoted above.
