Inside Delhi’s family theft network: How 3 men stole 25 high-end SUVs with sophisticated tools

A 56-year-old man teamed up with his son and son-in-law to form a close-knit family gang that stole nearly 25 high-end SUVs from upscale areas in Delhi over the past 10 months, police said.

All members of the gang have been arrested.

The suspects — identified as Raman, his son Sagar and son-in-law Neeraj — kept their operations within the family to avoid any information leak.


They used sophisticated tools to bypass vehicle security and sell the stolen vehicles through receivers in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

Targeted Creta, Fortuner and Brezza models

After investigating the pattern and examining footage from nearly 200 CCTV cameras, police found the suspects typically struck during the early hours of the day. They chose specific models — Hyundai Creta, Toyota Fortuner and Maruti Brezza — parked near parks and gyms. The footage revealed their ability to disable, start and steal a vehicle in under seven minutes — sometimes in just seconds.

The suspects avoided involving outsiders and relied on specialized equipment — including two car scanners, key clips, a wire cutter, an engine control module, hammers and numerous keys — to manipulate a vehicle’s onboard diagnostic port and disable its alarm and ignition.

Tipoff, arrest and recovery of tools

Acting on a tipoff, police laid a trap near a drain in Uttam Nagar and intercepted a white car with a fake number plate. Inside the vehicle, officers recovered sophisticated theft equipment.

The subsequent interrogations revealed the roles of all the suspects and their unique modus operandi.

Records show Raman was involved in 18 cases of vehicle theft, Sagar in 12, and Neeraj in 14. The suspects explained that by keeping their operations within the family, they avoided infiltration and made it hard for outsiders to leak information.

(With inputs from ToI)