Delhi Police team in Imphal managed to recover stolen high-valued cars. But a large part of the impounded vehicles disappeared from the SP police station premises en route to Porompat police station. Besides, how new owners got possession of the stolen vehicles and how they managed to get registration numbers from the Manipur State Transport department remain a mystery.
TFM Report
Imphal roads witness a large volume of traffic. However, many of them are either stolen or from dubious origins. The luxury vehicles and the high-end vehicles plying on Imphal roads have a big story to tell.
As per sources many of the top-range vehicles, which are on the roads of Manipur, are mostly involved in insurance fraud. Simply put, a vehicle owner, who has taken a bank loan for the vehicle, is in cahoots with a cartel whose main operation largely was to make money by defrauding insurers with staged auto theft cases. Sources state that the vehicle, which was apparently stolen from another state, has been brought to Manipur and after getting a registration number in Manipur it roams on Imphal roads freely. The catch here is that the Delhi Police are after the vehicles, which were apparently stolen from Delhi and other states and brought to Manipur.
As of late, Delhi Police with the help of Thoubal district police managed to recover high-valued vehicles in February end of this year in the range of Fortuner, Creta, Thar makes, etc. with cases pending against them.
As per a reliable report, four vehicles were recovered from the Thoubal district in the last few days. The impounded vehicles are to be taken back to Delhi. However, how new owners got possession of the stolen vehicles and how they managed to get registration numbers from the Manipur State Transport department remain a mystery.
The vehicles of Fortuner make, a Mahindra Thar and a Hyundai I 20 seized bear registration numbers MNO9A0133, MN09A0130, ML0573131 and the last Hyundai car has no registration number. Cases of vehicles missing from the capital have been registered with the Delhi Police, said the source.
However, sources said that in the last bust by the Delhi Police in November 2022, some vehicles were impounded by a Delhi Police team led by Assistant Sub Inspector Soukat Ali. The team had visited West Bengal, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh in search of vehicles that had cases registered against them. But, TFM found out that many of the impounded vehicles were later let off.
The impounded vehicles are being kept at Imphal East police premises. TFM, which has been following the car theft cartel, managed to track down the impounded vehicles and noted down the registration number of the top range vehicles bearing registration numbers MNO2B 7051, MN07D 0631, MN07D4577, MN07D 4546, MN07D 3324, MN07D 4577, WB06E8842, MN01AW2284, AS01G 5557, MN02B 6138, etc. These vehicles of the different top makes were found impounded at the premises of the Imphal East police SP compound on December 3, 2022.
Out of the vehicles, TFM found that seven of the vehicles had ‘no record”. Simply put, the vehicles impounded by the Delhi Police team had mainly no records implying that most were stolen or part of a larger fraud of vehicle insurance.
But that day, out of the vehicles taken to Porompat police station, only a few were detained inside the police station. A large part of the impounded vehicles disappeared from the SP police station premises en route to the Porompat police station. Only five vehicles were taken back by the Delhi Police team. As per the FIR available with TFM, stolen cars bearing registration numbers MN02B/7051, MN07D 0631, MN02B/6138, NL07 CA/ 1762, and NL07CA 4455 were taken back to Delhi. Details of the cars having no record are MN07D/4577, MN07D/4546, MN07D/3324, and AS01G 5557 were parked at the Imphal East SP office premises.
There have been allegations that many impounded vehicles were let off after receiving calls from some influential persons and the Delhi police team had to comply with the said directives.