"Dhani Ram Mittal, a resident of Mohan Nagar in Sonepat in Haryana, was arrested from near M2K cinema complex in Rohini on specific inputs that he would be coming to take away an out of order car from the locality," a senior police official said.
He was apprehended around 12.10 PM when he came in golden coloured car and was stopped near the barricades for checking. He failed to provide registration papers of the car and confessed that he had stolen it from the area around Paschim Vihar about 15-20 days ago, the official said, adding three stolen cars and a motorcycle have also been recovered.
Born in Bhiwani, Mittal did his graduation in first class from Vaish College Rohtak and did a diploma in hand writing and graphology from Kolkata.
"He started working as Munshi to various advocates and also graduated in law in 1970. He started his practice in the local court of Rohtak. He was previously involved in 89 cases of cheating, forgery and motor vehicle theft. He started committing crime in the year 1964 in Rohtak," said P Karunakaran, ACP Outer District.
About his modus operandi, the official said, Mittal used to park his car beside the car which he intends to steal. He used to unlock the car with his master key and "if caught red handed he used to concoct story about making a mistake due to his old age".
He usually sells the stolen vehicles after preparing fake documents with the help of local RTOs and touts. He used to get the photocopies of the registration certificates and forge the signature.
He had even forged an order for compulsory leave for a District Judge at Jhajjar in Haryana in 1970. He even prepared a forged appointment letter for himself and presided over the District Court for 40 days before his cheating was caught, though this was being verified, the official said.