Hot pursuit! Vehicle thieves run riot in Nelamangala

Praveen Kumar | NT
Bengaluru, Nov. 3

The Bengaluru-Nelamangala stretch witnessed a dramatic car chase as the owner of a stolen SUV along with his friends made an attempt to catch a gang of vehicle thieves.

The chase lasted almost an hour, but they were not successful in nabbing the gang, as the accused brandished guns to scare them and managed to escape. The accused later abandoned the stolen SUV near the Nelamangala railway station and escaped.

The accused had stolen the Bolero SUV from Madagondapalli in Hosur in Tamil Nadu on October 25 and changed its number plate. A car theft complaint was registered by the owner V Harish Reddy, in Mathigiri police station in Hosur on October 27.

Interestingly, on the day the complaint was filed the SUV owner’s friend, who was on his way to Dharmasthala, happened to see the stolen vehicle near Kunigal. He identified it based on the stickers on the front and back windshield and also a dent.

The SUV had an ‘MPR’ sticker on the front windshield and ‘GOKUL’ sticker on the rear windshield. These stickers helped Reddy’s friend identified as Anand to identify the SUV near a toll booth in Kunigal.
He then called up the owner and informed him. The SUV owner along with his friends came near the Jas toll booth in Nelamangala via the NICE corridor and waited for the gang.

When the SUV arrived, they tried to surround it. The accused sped away and got into nearby roads. The chase went on for almost an hour. The accused threatened the victims at gunpoint after which they gave up the chase.

The SUV owner and his friends then returned to Tamil Nadu and two days later filed another police complaint in the jurisdictional police where the car chase happened and the police have taken up a case under the Arms Act.

“The complainant owns a two-wheeler showroom on the Hosur main road. He has stated that there were seven men in his SUV that was stolen from Madagondapalli. The accused had changed the number plate from Tamil Nadu registration to Maharashtra registration. After the complaint was filed, the message was passed to all the police stations in the state and the SUV was found abandoned near the Nelamangala railway station. The same has been informed to its owner and take the possession of the SUV after completing the court formalities. The search for the gang is till on,” said an officer on part of investigations.

The police suspect that the accused are a part of an organised vehicle lifting racket, who sell the stolen vehicles after changing the registration numbers and tampering the chassis. Police have registered a case under the Indian Arms Act, 1959 along with other sections of the Indian Penal Code.