New Delhi: Four persons, including an ex-serviceman, have been arrested for allegedly stealing luxury cars by disabling their security systems using an imported diagnostic kit, police said today.
They were arrested following a shootout in Shahpur Jat village in south Delhi.
“The diagnostic kit recovered from the accused is of the latest make and is manufactured in England. It costs more than Rs 3 lakh and is used primarily by authorised company-owned or company-operated service stations for diagnosing the faults reported in expensive cars and SUVs,” said DCP (South) Ishwar Singh.
The diagnostic kit, when connected with the target car, reads its chip and allows the option to bypass the security key which is used to protect the ignition and security systems integrated with the vehicle by the manufacturer, he added.
Within 10 minutes, the security system of a parked Audi, Fortuner, Skoda or a similar high-end car can be breached.
On March 16, information was received that Ajay alias Sanjay (36), allegedly involved in dozens of auto-lifting cases, will be coming to Shahpur Jat village along with his associates to steal high-end cars.
A silver-coloured Maruti 800 car was seen coming from August Kranti Marg towards Shahpur Jat village.
“The driver was asked to stop but the occupants of the car tried to escape. The route was blocked but the four occupants of the car started running.
“During the chase, accused Ajay opened fire at the raiding party. One of the constables fired in the air,” said Singh.
While the accused Ajay was reloading his weapon, he was overpowered and the other three accused, Ravinder Singh alias Lal alias Rohit (30), Amit alias Tinku (29) and Vinod Kumar (48) were also arrested.
Vinod is an ex-serviceman who served in the Punjab Regiment for six years before quitting the army. He joined the gang for quick money.
“Three country-made pistols along with six live and one empty cartridges have been recovered from them. A high-tech diagnostic kit with dongle box and attachments, made in UK, has also been recovered,” added Singh.
—PTI