Police has claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of truck thieves after the arrest of seven men, including an RTO agent, and seizure of 14 stolen trucks from them in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district.
The alleged kingpin of the gang, Vikas Chaudhary (33), a resident of Chandausi in Uttar Pradesh, had shifted to Bilaspur a few years ago.
He allegedly sold trucks stolen from his native state here using forged registration documents, Bilaspur Superintendent of Police B N Meena said here today.
Last month, a gang involved in alleged truck theft was busted in Uttar Pradesh and 16 heavy vehicles were recovered from them.
Later, police launched a manhunt for accomplices of the accused, when they received inputs about Chaudhary who was staying in DDU Nagar at Mangla in Bilaspur.
Further investigation revealed that Chaudhary was a crucial member of the gang of truck thieves operating in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and neighbouring states and that stolen trucks were sold in Bilaspur.
Some RTO agents were found allegedly involved in the offence by providing fake registration documents, the SP said.
Meanwhile, some previous cases of vehicle thefts also came to the notice of the police after which a team of cops raided Chaudhary's house yesterday and nabbed him, the SP said.
During interrogation, Chaudhary confessed that he was engaged in stealing trucks with the help of his accomplices like Firoz alias Mohammed Arif Fahim Khan from UP, as well as bringing them to Raipur for sale, for the past seven years.
