Ranchi police busted a gang of SUV-lifters and liquor smugglers on Saturday. The gang used to lift SUVs, especially Mahindra Bolero, from Ranchi, Dhanbad, and Bokaro and used them to smuggle alcohol to neighbouring State, Bihar. After smuggling alcohol, the gang would sell the stolen vehicles at throwaway prices.
Talking to media on Sunday, Senior Superintendent of Police Anish Gupta informed that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to investigate the theft of dozens of SUVs in the district, following which six members of the gang have been caught.
“They have admitted to 18 cases of theft, and we have recovered four Boleros till now. We chased members of this gang stealing two Boleros near Pandra area last week too, but they left the vehicles and fled. Yesterday, we were successful in catching one member trying to escape with a Bolero near Parchuttu ring road,” he said.
Gupta added, “We caught four more members waiting in another stolen Bolero in Chauparan, Bihar.
The sixth member was arrested in the BIT Thana jurisdiction.
Eight more Boleros have been recovered in many areas but we are working to determine if they belong to this case, since the number plates have been changed.”.
The six arrested–Sonu Sao, Arun Kumar, Sukhdeo Dangi, Vinay Kumar Yadav, Prakash Sao, and Ramsheesh Kumar Dangi—specialised in lifting Mahindra Boleros from weddings and crowded events with a master key.
The SSP also said that the arrested members of the gang confessed that they smuggled liquor in the stolen vehicles to various areas in Bihar, before selling off the vehicle for Rs 50,000 to Rs 55,000 each.
“The gang leader Sonu Sao already has a criminal record. Sukhdeo Dangi, one of the gang members arrested, is operator of a line hotel and exporter of illegal liquor to Bihar,” the SSP told the media.
When asked about the rise of vehicle-lifter gangs in the city, the SSP said that SITs have been formed to deal especially with the issues of vehicle-lifting, chain-snatching, and mobile-snatching. “With information networks and technological assistance, we are working to determine hotspots of these crimes and then proceed accordingly,” he said.