Bunty Chor-like criminal steals engines in S Delhi

Shivam Kumar managed to carry out more than 200 burglaries in Delhi over the last six months, giving investigators the slip at every step. But earlier this month, the 25-year-old’s luck finally ran out, leading the Delhi Police to the lone-wolf and prompting comparisons with Bunty Chor, one of the city’s most notorious burglars, who inspired the 2008 Hindi film Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!.
On March 2, Kumar was in the process of stealing the engine of a Toyota Innova parked near the Safdarjung bus terminal when he was spotted by its driver. Kumar panicked and fired at the driver Shiv Kumar Yadav and his friend Rakesh Singh when they tried to catch him, injuring Singh in the process, police said.
Singh collapsed when the bullet hit him and Kumar managed to escape with the engine. But while Singh survived, police were now hot on Kumar’s trail. DCP (southwest) Rohit Meena said a team was assigned to look for the suspect. Police had a hunch that he was a repeat offender because similar incidents of car engine theft had been reported in the area.
“We learned that he had come on a scooter and so we collected footage from CCTV cameras nearby. We then traced his movements backwards to more than 25km away using CCTV mapping. It was an endless process since we were analysing footage from Kotla Mubarakpur to Uttam Nagar area (where the CCTV trail led the cops),” the DCP said.
Police combed through footage for two days before they found the scooter Kumar was riding — details of which they had got from the CCTV footage. However, police said, it had no number plate and visuals of the suspect were a “blur”.
“We could only get the make, colour and a sticker on the scooter. Our team then reached Uttam Nagar and took the help of informers and locals to identify the suspect. We managed to zero in on Kumar and found he was often seen in the Matiala area. A team was sent there and they caught him when he was spotted in the area with his stolen items. He was arrested on Saturday,” DCP Meena said.
During interrogation, police learnt more details of Kumar’s exploits, unearthing a trail of unsolved robberies, previous stints in jail, and a change in his modus operandi.
For instance, two days before the Kotla Mubarakpur incident, Kumar stole a car engine in Okhla and fired at a man who tried to fend him off. As a result, police in the southeast district were also looking for him after the victim was severely injured, said a senior police officer who was not authorised to speak to the media.
Senior officers said Kumar would target multiple cars and car owners in the night and is an “expert” in breaking into cars. “Also, he was only stealing car parts and wasn’t stealing the entire car. It is difficult to trace a thief who’s not captured in CCTVs,” an officer said.
Previously, Kumar’s records revealed, he was involved in more than 40 cases of theft and robbery of car engines and parts. This was when he worked with gangs and associates. But they kept getting caught. He had been arrested at least 3-4 times, police said. So he decided to go his own way.
“He worked with a gang but they would often get caught. He was released in September last year and decided not to work with a gang to evade arrest. He thought working with other criminals would increase the risk of them being caught,” said the officer.
Since September, DCP Meena said, Kumar had been operating as a lone wolf and committed over 200 robberies, adding that cases where he was involved were lodged across south Delhi, including Lajpat Nagar, RK Puram, Palam, Okhla, Hauz Khas, and Hazrat Nizamuddin.
“To prevent being attacked by the victim or the police, he started keeping two pistols. We have recovered them. According to the initial enquiry, he has fired at two people. We are checking if he has hurt others,” said the senior officer quoted earlier. Police also recovered from his residence in Matiala two hammers, keys, screwdrivers, a ring spanner, and other tools Kumar used to break into cars.
Police said Kumar mainly targeted high-end cars and trucks since their engines sell for a good price. Based on Kumar’s interrogation, police also arrested Mohammad Yamin from Chawri Bazaar. Yamin, police said, Yamin was the “receiver” of the stolen items and would sell the engines to workshops, car dealers and repair shops in Central Delhi.
Kumar told police that he hails from the Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, but left his village after he failed in class 10 in 2014. He then came to Delhi and began living in Matiala.
“He came to Delhi with a friend to get a job but wasn’t able to earn much. He was hired as a security guard at a residential area. He also got addicted to drugs. To survive and buy more drugs, he decided to steal car engines. He and his friends would often get caught and sent to jail. After his release, he would go back to theft and robberies. Last year, he bought firearms and ammunition with his money and started targeting more people,” another officer said.
Kumar’s long string of burglaries is reminiscent the career of Devender Singh, better known as Bunty Chor, who was infamous for at least 500 burglaries across the country, with half of them in his hometown, Delhi. He had been arrested over a dozen times, escaped custody six times and convicted thrice — enough to inspire a Bollywood film.