The Hindu : New Delhi News : Recovering stolen cars a thankless job for police

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 23, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Recovering stolen cars a thankless job for police

Prashant Pandey

Not many takers for vehicles recovered from North-East

NEW DELHI: Recovering vehicles stolen from the Capital and disposed of in the country's North-Eastern States has always been a challenge for the Delhi police. But bringing such vehicles back to the Capital is proving to be quite a thankless job as only the Delhi police seem to have a stake in it.

This year the police officers of some of the North-Eastern States like Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur with help from their Delhi counterparts managed to recover several vehicles stolen from the Capital and disposed of there. About 70 stolen vehicles were recovered from Arunachal Pradesh alone. Even the Manipur police recovered many such vehicles but were lamenting that the Delhi police were not making enough efforts to take them back. Some recoveries were also made in Nagaland. In the Capital, the Crime Branch of the Delhi police was designated the nodal agency. They link the stolen cars to the cases concerned and it is now up to the district police to bring them back.

According to police sources, while some vehicles have already been brought back, the pace is very slow. For instance, about 30 such vehicles were linked to theft cases registered in South Delhi. Of these, four have been brought back and efforts are now on to bring back the other vehicles.

According to the police, bringing back these cars is an exercise in which only they have a definite stake. "Most of the complainants have already availed of their insurance claim and probably also bought new cars. So, they are not interested in getting their cars back. For the police though, these cars are case property and they have to make efforts to bring these back," said a senior police officer.

The officer added that if these cars were not linked to the cases, the likelihood of those accused of stealing them getting a reprieve from the court would be high. "They can then come back to hound the residents and the police again," the officer added.

Though insurance companies after reimbursing the insurance claims have some interest in bringing these vehicles back. But they too take some nominal price from the agents and it is up to them to take further trouble. "These agents also have a stake but the cost of getting these cars in running condition and then transporting them back to the Capital is almost the same as their resale value because most such vehicles are not in good condition," the police officer said.

Bringing one such vehicle back to the Capital can cost anywhere between Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 30,000.

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