Auto-lifting on rise in Sangam city

ALLAHABAD For instance, the Attarsuiya police have failed to recover even a single stolen bike of those lifted in the past months. Matloob Hussain, a resident of Dariyabad, has been taking frequent rounds of Attarsuiya police station to know the current status of his stolen bike. His bike was lifted from Kathara, Dariyabad in February but has not been recovered yet. The police have been giving fake assurances to the victim but have failed to take a concrete step in this regard.Hussain's case is not isolated, Dr Rashid, who runs a small nursing home in Dariyabad, is clueless about the state of his stolen bike. His bike was lifted from Dariyabad crossing in March. Rashid said he felt cheated as cops were not in position to say anything about the progress in his bike's case. While talking to TOI, Dr Rashid said, "Cops seem to be least bothered about the increasing cases of auto-lifting in the city". Syed Abbas Ali is facing a similar trauma as he visits Dariyabad police station on every alternative day to inquire about his stolen bike. Ali claimed "Everyday I ask cops about the progress in the case, they fail to give any satisfactory answer".Meanwhile, officials of crime branch claim that the investigations revealed that professional auto-lifters have also hired rented accommodation to hide stolen-vehicles and were operating in an organised way. Secondly, most of the auto-lifters, instead of selling stolen vehicles to customers in neighbouring district or Indo-Nepal border, prefer to dismantle it in the city itself and sell its parts.Taking a serious note of the rising cases of auto-lifting, the senior police authorities have directed their subordinates to chalk out result oriented operations ensuring arrest of auto-lifters. Regarding the same, senior police officials have issued a set of directives to their subordinates for the success of their strategy against the crime.Earlier, cops have been directed to constitute special police teams headed by a sub-inspector rank police official thana wise to tighten the noose around auto-lifters. Besides, thana cops would check the whereabouts of auto-lifters enrolled in police records in the past five years.The cops have been asked to keep a check on the current activities of auto-lifters released from jail and to conduct raids at the hideouts of notorious auto-lifters evading their arrest.Teams have also been asked to ascertain the identities of new criminals operating in an organised way in city areas. Police officials claim that entry of new gangs have made the task difficult as they have no idea about their identities and whereabouts.Cops were also asked to go through the detailed interrogation report of arrested auto-lifters and to seek the assistance of neighbouring district police in this regard. BEsides, they have been asked to keep an eye on the activities of scrap dealers as a number of scrap dealers were found involved in dismantling stolen vehicles. A senior cop told TOI that directives have been issued to tighten the noose on auto-lifting gangs operating in the city.