Country's most wanted car lifter in police custody

East Khasi Hills superintendent of police A R Mawthoh told a press conference that besides Chauhan, who was arrested from Silchar in Assam on August 30, four others who were part of the racket have also been arrested during the last one month.

They have been identified as Tiaumzuk Longkumer of Mokokchung (Nagaland), Munir Ali Lashkar of Dimapur (Nagaland), Robert Khojol of Shillong and David Lalthawmmawia of Aizawl.

The car lifters are skilled in tampering with the chasis and engine numbers of the stolen vehicles, which they usually sold to clients at Mizoram. David was the key financier of the group and the police have recovered four stolen MUVs from his possession.

“Interrogation of Tiaumzuk led to the seizure of number plates, flat keys and other tools and implements from a locality in Shillong,” Mawthoh said last evening. Chauhan is a declared proclaimed offender by many courts in Delhi and carries a Delhi police reward of Rs 25,000 on his head. He has over 3,000 cases of car lifting from remote corners in Ladakh to the Northeast in his name.

Some major car lifting gangs busted in Delhi and other north Indian states had revealed during interrogation that Chauhan was their 'godfather'. Chauhan owns a two storey bungalow in Guwahati along with some other property. His bank accounts have been frozen, the SP said.

A Class 12 dropout, the 42-year-old used to drive an auto-rickshaw at Khanpur in south Delhi before metamorphosing into the country’s most wanted car lifter.