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On Monday, the Crime Branch of Ghaziabad, with the help of the local police, caught three godowns of car thieves in Thakurdwara, Moradabad. Parts worth about 3 crores of about 70 vehicles were recovered here. Of the four arrested, two used to steal vehicles from Delhi-NCR, western UP and Uttarakhand. One of them used to steal as a driver, the other used to defy the central lock of the vehicles and other devices and blew them away.

Meerut’s Sotiganj (file photo)

The stories of Chor Bazaar were famous The police is searching for the rest of his accomplices. But the pictures that came after these raids on Monday reminded me of Chor Bazaar in Meerut’s Sotiganj. Many stories were told about the Chor Bazaar of Meerut. Once a man was looking for a wheel of the same model for his vintage car. Since that model of the car stopped being manufactured several decades ago someone advised him to go to Chor Bazar in Sotiganj.

The owner of the car went there hesitantly. He talked to a shopkeeper sitting on the track, showed his car… The shopkeeper promised to wait for sometime and get the wheel. After waiting an hour, a boy came and handed him a wheel like his own car. When the owner of the car came back to the car after paying the exorbitant price, he saw that his car is standing on three wheels, bricks are in place of the fourth wheel. … The same fourth wheel was stolen and sold to him. Going back, he saw another man sitting in place of the person sitting on the track, when he inquired about something, he started fighting.

Animal feed was sold in 1960 The scrap market of Sotiganj in Meerut was the place of such strange adventures. But this market of Sadar police station was not always like this. Around 1960, junk, rubbish, coal, animal feed, etc. were sold here. Gradually, around the 1980s, stolen things started selling here in the name of junk. In the 1990s, such was the situation that people would come here to find their stolen bicycles, identify them, pay exorbitant prices and return. without arguing.

On-demand theft Initially this work was done in few shops. The same thing started happening in the shops. The shops remained mere showrooms, the houses there became warehouses of stolen goods. When the demand for spare parts increased, then on-demand thefts started happening. Gradually, vehicles from the surrounding districts started coming here stolen. From the latest models to the second world war, parts of cars started being found at these shops.

Parts worth about 3 crores were caught in Moradabad

The mechanic here were like ‘termites’ The biggest feature of the artisans here was that they used to lick the whole car like termites in a pinch. Or rather, parts used to separate parts. After this, why should the owner of the stolen vehicle be parked there, he could not even recognize his car. His car had the engine somewhere else, the piston somewhere else, the axle somewhere, the doors somewhere else in different shops. Then these stolen parts were sold in the name of junk from Jama Masjid in Delhi to Ghaffar Market.

became a junkie millionaire The junkies remained only in name, they became millionaires. In Sotiganj, about 37 big businessmen were under the radar of the police, their assets were worth 10 billion rupees. The annual turnover of this market itself was above 500 crores. There were around 350 shops, out of which only 47 had GST registration. Their influence was such that even the police were afraid to lay their hands.

yogi government did it But when the Yogi government showed strictness, Haji Naeem alias Haji Galla, who was called King Kabadi, was arrested. The rest of the important junkies were Haji Iqbal, Haji Aftab, Mustaq, Mannu alias Maynuddin, Haji Mohsin, Salman alias Sher, Rahul Kala, Salauddin. There are charges against them ranging from vehicle theft to illegal business.

Black business was spread till Nepal Their black business was increasing from Delhi, NCR, West UP, reaching Haryana, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and neighboring country Nepal. Vehicles stolen from India were stolen from Nepal and from there and brought to India. Apart from spare parts, the chassis, engine and chassis of stolen vehicles in good condition were sold to them.

There was another business, papers were also sold He had another business. That was to sell the papers of the accidently auctioned vehicles. Here registration of luxury vehicles was one to one and a half lakh rupees, normal vehicles were sold for 40-50 thousand. At present, the business of Sotiganj Chor Bazari of Meerut has slowed down but the thieves here have now made their new hideouts in Moradabad and other cities. It remains to be seen when Yogi’s bulldozer will run there now.

This post is sourced from newspapers, magazines and third-party websites. For more information please check NewsDay Express Disclaimer.

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