Jaipur: Suspended cop, 4 held for vehicle thefts

JAIPUR: A suspended 26-year-old police constable, who befriended a skilled car thief inside a jail, has emerged as one of the city’s top vehicle thieves.
DCP (Jaipur West) Richa Tomar said a special task force arrested constable Kapil Sharma and four of his aides identified as Jitendra Singh alias Jitu (20), Rajesh Kumar Meena (25), Deendayal alias Dinu (32) and Jagdish Sharma (54).
“We have recovered seven cars of different models and two bikes from the gang. Interrogation is on to determine their involvement in other cases,” Tomar said.
Sharma joined Rajasthan police in 2015 on compassionate grounds following his father’s death. He completed his mandatory training in 2018.
Subsequently, he received a posting in Jaipur police commissionerate’s reserve line. According to additional DCP (West) Ram Singh, Sharma spent three months in jail after he was booked in a rape case in 2019. Sharma struck a rapport with vehicle thief Rajesh Meena in jail.
Meena carried different aliases such as Tavera, brand name of an SUV, and Tiger. Sharma’s penchant for parties, expensive liquor and extravagant lifestyle drew him closer to Meena. Sharma and Meena walked out on bail around the same time. They enlisted the help of other suspects, including Jagdish Sharma, owner of a small garage in Jagatpura.
The gang used a clever subterfuge to sell stolen cars, rarely invoking any iota of suspicion. According to Tomar, Sharma loitered around the city on his bike, prowling for vehicles at different parking spaces. He would steal a car and park it at a desolate location for a few days so that GPS devices could not easily track it.
Jagdish would then affix a fraudulent number plate. According to Singh, Jagdish Sharma played a crucial role in these heists. “They would purchase old and ramshackle cars. Jagdish cleverly removed chassis numbers from used cars before selling them off to scrap dealers at throwaway prices, but kept original vehicle documents,” Singh said.
Singh added that they put the chassis numbers of the junked cars on stolen vehicles and forged documents to trick customers. Singh said Kapil also tricked another suspended cop into buying a stolen vehicle. The special team comprised ACP (Vaishali) Alok Kumar Saini, Chitrakoot SHO Ramkishan Bishnoi and constables Ram Avtar, Beerbal and Sagar.