Auto lifters’ gang headed by retired army officer busted

GHAZIABAD - The Ghaziabad police Sunday claimed to have busted a gang of auto-lifters headed by a retired Indian Army officer, who is on the run.

Lt.Colonel M.P. Singh, who retired from the army about 18 months ago, was running the gang for about a decade, police said.

While one person was arrested, his three accomplices, including the retired army officer himself, managed to evade arrest. A police subinspector has been suspended for dereliction of duty.

The gang was busted on a tip off, police added.

Police recovered 11 luxury cars along with fake documents from the possession of the arrested man.

The arrested man has been identified as Nagad Narayan alias Ram Singh, a resident of Afaur Tola in Bihar. Narayan confessed that he prepared forged documents for the stolen vehicles.

The third accomplice of Lt.Col. M.P. Singh, Raj Kumar alias Munna, a resident of Marchhiya in Bihar,normally drove the stolen vehicles. The fourth member of the gang, Sanjay alias Ravi Shankar, a resident of Patna in Bihar, would steal cars and hand them over to his accomplices.

“Some customers who came to know that they had been sold stolen cars surrendered their cars to the police voluntarily. Subinspector Pankaj Verma, who failed to arrest Lt.Col. M.P. Singh, has been suspended. The hunt to arrest the remaining members of his gang is on and Narayan has been sent to jail,” a senior police officer said.