TEAM HERALD
The auto thieves have been identified as Nitin Naik and Ajay Rathod, both from Mumbai. The duo was caught red-handed with the two stolen Swift cars – GA-07-C-5514 and GA-03-P-9014, at a toll naka on Sunday. Complaints of the missing vehicles were registered at Panjim and Verna police stations.
Speaking at press briefing, SIT head PI Jivba Dalvi said, “The modus operandi of the thieves involved calling Justdial to hire cars and travel to Goa. It was delivered to them after submitting relevant documents to the car-rental agency. However, the accused would flee back to Mumbai once they were in possession of the cars and sell it to others by changing their parts.”
The main culprits are however at large even as the team claims to have traced their whereabouts. The accused have confessed stealing three more four-wheelers, which have been kept at a secret location. Another complaint of auto theft has been registered at Calangute police station.
Dalvi said they would recover the other stolen cars while also not ruling out further arrests. The duo was brought to Goa on Monday morning and interrogated after taking custody from a local court. Preliminary investigation also revealed that the gang illegally changed number plates of the stolen vehicles. According to a press statement issued by North SP Priyanka Kashyap, the gang operated this racket in connivance with some garage owners, mechanics and others concerned who would fix parts and duplicate number plates on the stolen cars and help them produce fake IDs of the gang members to avoid coming under the scanner
of police.
