Gun runners hand-in-glove with auto-lifters

In past five years, cases of auto-lifting have increased over 100% in the national Capital. Over the period, gangs indulging in auto-lifting have grown to form bigger nexuses listing it under one of the fast-rising organised crimes. 

Measures from the police to curb the menace have also seen rise manifold, but seem to have failed after the Saturday's incident.

In southeast Delhi's Jaitpur, a 25-year-old was killed while his father was critically injured while trying to catch an auto-lifter trying to steal their neighbour's car at 4 am.

There have also been cases where auto-lifters have been found to be armed and have not hesitated in opening fire on even the police when challenged.

It was just last month, on January 29, when a Delhi Police team arrested a wanted auto-lifter following a brief encounter and chase up to UP's Amroha district. The accused were chased from Delhi when they were fleeing after stealing a Tata Indica car from the Okhla area around 3:30 am. After being gheraoed by the Delhi and UP police teams, the auto-lifters opened fire at the police.

Just four days before this, Delhi Police sub-inspector Naveen was shot at by a gang of auto-lifters in the Dwarka area after he was intercepted them following a tip-off. In a bid to escape, the accused opened fire and Naveen was shot at. The accused managed to flee and the policeman had to undergo a surgery.

In October 2017, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also fell victim to auto-lifters in Delhi. The blue WagonR that he used went missing from outside the Delhi Secretariat and was later found abandoned in Ghaziabad. 
Following this, in a letter to Lt-Governor Anil Baijal, Kejriwal had said the incident points to the "rapidly deteriorating" law and order situation in the Capital.

Senior police officers say that these auto-lifters operate in connivance with gunrunners who feed them with country-made arms and ammunition on cheap prices. "There have been many operations in which arm peddlers have been arrested leading to the recovery of a huge arms cache. Arm peddlers have revealed that pistols are in high demand among puny criminals and auto-lifters. They are sold as cheap as Rs 2,000 and range goes up to Rs 10,000," the officer said, adding that supply of weapons to these auto lifting gangs has increased the risk as well as the menace.