VEHICLE THEFTS

Insurance surveyors party to crime 

Mohali, July 16
The notorious gang of interstate criminals busted recently by the Mohali police adopted more than one way of laying their hands on vehicles of their choice.
Apart from lifting and snatching cars, they used to connive with surveyors of insurance companies to procure damaged vehicles auctioned at throwaway prices, keeping the vehicle owners in the dark.
The interesting aspect of the modus operandi of the gang has been revealed by a Kurali-based lawyer, Chander Shekhar Bawa, whose Mahindra Bolero (PB 65 J 6726) was sold in an auction by a surveyor while keeping him in the dark. Though the vehicle was repairable, the surveyor had pressed upon its owner to dispose it of as it had been totalled.
“I was told by the surveyor that I would be given Rs 4.20 lakh, including Rs 1.70-lakh claim, by the insurance company. However, I never got the money,” he claimed.
On probing the matter, he found that the vehicle had been auctioned for Rs 2.50 lakh to a member of the gang. However, he was kept in the dark about the auction. He has now filed a complaint with the police in this regard.
This has prompted the police to probe the role of a key member of the gang, Chetan Bakshi, who is believed to have been in close contact with officials of insurance companies. Mohali SSP GPS Bhullar said all angles were being probed.
Bakshi had slipped from the hands of the police after it had recovered around 25 stolen vehicles. The police had also zeroed in on two persons who specialised in the job of embossing engine and chassis numbers on vehicles and were doing the job for the gang at a price.