Success at last: The capital’s most-wanted carjacker held

The special cell of Delhi Police arrested on Wednesday carjacking kingpin Manoj Bakarwara. Bakarwara, who had a reward of Rs50,000 on his head, had twice escaped from police custody in the past. He is allegedly involved in over 100 cases of carjacking. The reason police took so long to arrest him was his unique modus operandi.

“He was extra careful in his operations. He used to reach his destinations by auto-rickshaw or bus. Sometimes, he would simply walk there. Also, he would lift only luxury cars costing Rs10 lakh to Rs30 lakh. That is why he could evade arrest for so long,” Delhi police commissioner YS Dhadwal said.

Bakarwara was also wanted by Haryana and Chandigarh police. Many of the cars he stole were disposed of in Chandigarh. His hideout was in sector 38-D, Chandigarh. The recent arrest of his three aides led to Bakarwara’s arrest.

On May 8, he tried to run over a South Delhi police team on his trail. He shot at the team and escaped. “Police retaliated, wounding his middle finger, but he escaped (on May 8),” Dhadwal said.

Earlier, he had given the slip to Gurgaon Police. A Ford Endeavour, a Honda City, two sophisticated English pistols and 15 live cartridges were recovered from him. The police had arrested Bakarwara’s 18 associates before they finally nabbed him on Wednesday.