Cops driving junkyard vehicles back to owners

When South Mumbai-based businessman got a call from the police recently informing him about the tracing of his Santro car, he could not believe his ears. After losing the car about a year ago, the businessman had lost his hope too as the cops were unable to find any clue about its whereabouts. The car was finally found from the loads of similar vehicles kept inside a police station in western suburbs.

This is just one among the over 20 cases that the special squad of the city police for motor vehicle theft has managed to solve within last few days. This was even before stepping on the field as these vehicles were lying at the various police stations across the city.

According to sources, though the cops have seized hundreds of vehicles in various criminal cases, hardly any attempt has been made to trace their owners. After the setting up of the squad, officials have decided to start investigation by calling details of all the vehicles lying at different police stations in order to know their origin, the sources said. “The legal process is on to return the vehicles to their owners,” said a police officer privy to the functioning of the squad.

According to an estimate by the Mumbai police, about 4,000 cases of motor vehicle theft are reported every year, out of which detection takes place in hardly 20% of cases. The analysis done by the police reveals that Scorpio, Santro, Bolero and Esteem are some of the car models which are targeted more by the criminals.