New Delhi: Delhi Police have busted a multi-state car theft racket that merged vehicle stealing with document forgery and digital cloning. The gang allegedly stole cars, cloned the identities of legitimate vehicles, and sold them through online platforms and used-car dealers using meticulously forged documents.
The case came to light after a leading pre-owned car company detected five suspicious transactions on its tech-enabled platform. An internal audit revealed that three cloned cars had been processed at the company’s Rithala centre, while two others were sold to partner dealers—each backed by falsified registration and identity papers.
Investigators said the gang operated with precision. Stolen vehicles were first taken from parking lots or public roads. The culprits then obtained details of genuine cars of identical make, model, colour, and variant. Using these details, they replaced chassis plates, altered registration numbers, and produced forged documents, including RCs, Aadhaar and PAN cards, and even fake no-objection certificates (NOCs) from finance companies.
The forged paperwork was of such high quality that it passed authenticity checks on official government portals. “The documents looked absolutely genuine. Even our system, which verifies data from government sources, couldn’t flag them,” said a senior official from the car company.
Police sources said the gang used fake bank accounts to receive payments, some allegedly opened with the involvement of complicit staff. If a deal fell through or appeared risky, the accused quickly moved the cloned vehicle to another city or sold it through a different dealer. To cover their tracks, they frequently changed phone numbers and discarded SIM cards after each sale.
The operation points to a growing nexus between traditional auto theft and cyber-enabled forgery. Investigators suspect the gang had access to insiders in multiple sectors, including transport offices and banks, to facilitate verification and document approval.
Cases have been registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for theft, cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy. A special investigation team (SIT) has been formed to trace the wider network and identify links across state lines.
