The Delhi Police has recovered the SUV of BJP President J P Nadda's wife from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, more than two weeks after it was stolen from a service centre in Delhi's Govindpuri, according to officials.
They said three auto-lifters were arrested in connection with the case. They have been identified as Shivansh Tripathi (23), Saleem (34), and Mohammad Raees (33), all residents of Uttar Pradesh.
The white Toyota Fortuner was stolen from southeast Delhi's Govindpuri on March 19 when its driver, Joginder, had left it at the service centre and returned home briefly. Police said the vehicle is registered in Himachal Pradesh, J P Nadda's home state, in the name of his wife.
"One of the accused is an auto-lifter, while two others are habitual interstate receiver of stolen luxury cars. With their arrest, another stolen Creta car used in the commission of the theft and one Stolen Fortuner Car were recovered from their possession," Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Rajesh Deo said.
He said the probe was taken up after Joginder lodged an e-FIR at the Govindpuri police station.
"The case was transferred to the Anti-Auto Theft Squad of Southeast Delhi and a dedicated team was formed. During investigation, the team analysed footage from several CCTV cameras and following the trail of the CCTV cameras, the team reached Budkal in Haryana's Faridabad," said the DCP.
He said they got a tip-off that Shivansh Tripathi and his gang were allegedly involved in the case, and the first first breakthrough came on March 22 when the team apprehended him from near the Patiala House Court.
Police said Tripathi, a resident of UP's Hardoi, dropped out after class X due to poor financial condition of his family. He fell in contact of bad people and to meet his daily needs started stealing luxury cars from Delhi-NCR with the help of a gang. He was previously involved in multiple cases of auto theft.
According to the officer, Tripathi told the police during interrogation that he committed this theft from Giri Nagar in Govindpuri along with his associate Shahid, a resident of Badkal in Faridabad, his son-in law Farooq, who lives in Delhi's Chandan Hola, and one Shahkul.
The DCP said that after stealing the SUV, they allegedly took it to Farooq's farmhouse in Faridabad from where it was sold to Lakhimpur Kheri-resident Saleem, who purchases stolen luxury cars and sells them further across the country including in the Northeast.
Saleem was apprehended and during interrogation, he told police that he further sold the vehicle to another person, named Mohammad Raees, who had then sold it to some other person.
Police followed the trail and recovered the SUV from Varanasi, the DCP said.
"With the arrest of all the accused, two cases of vehicle theft were worked out and further investigation is in progress," the DCP further added.
