Doctor by day, car thief by night: Ahmedabad man involved in 251 thefts in five years

This doctor from Bavla has a surprising after-hours hobby – stealing cars with his brother. Dr Haresh Maniya would moonlight as a car thief in Ahmedabad and is on the run from police. His brother, Arvind, has been nabbed, along with two another accomplices, for stealing 251 cars in five years and selling them to dealers in Rajkot.

The crime branch was able to recover 28 stolen cars from them. "The mastermind doctor is on the run after his brother was arrested," said JN Chavda, sub-inspector of Crime Branch, adding that a hunt for him has been launched. The other accused have been identified as Tahir Vora and Salim Shaikh, both car dealers in Rajkot.

The gang's modus operandi unravelled after Arvind was nabbed at a petrol pump in Thaltej on July 30 under suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle. During interrogation, he revealed to the crime branch that he has been stealing vehicles from Ahmedabad with the help of his older brother Haresh since 2014. Haresh would pick the locks of cars parked on SG highway lane, between Sanand and Vaishnodevi Circle and drive them to Bavla.

There, the number plates would be changed, and within two days, Arvind would drive the cars to Rajkot, using inner roads to avoid all toll booths and CCTV cameras.

In Rajkot, Vora and Shaikh would buy the cars, repaint them, carry out slight modifications and re-sell them. The Maniya brothers made a "profit" of around Rs 30-35,000 on each car, which they would divide equally among themselves.

Officers say 90 per cent of the cars were stolen from SG highway, Vastrapur and Sola areas. They expect the number of cars stolen and those involved in the racket to rise.