New Delhi: Delhi Police arrested Monday a person whom they called ‘India’s biggest car thief’. The man, Anil Chauhan is accused of stealing more than five thousand cars from different parts of India. Police said that the 52-year-old Anil Chauhan maintained a life of luxury and lavishness. He has properties worth crores in Delhi, Mumbai, and the North East.
Police have no qualms at calling Anil Chauhan as India’s ‘biggest car thief’, a ‘profession’ he has been involved in for the last 27 years. The special staff of Central Delhi Police caught him from the Desh Bandhu Gupta Road area in the national capital after a tip-off.
Police said other than stealing cars, Anil is also involved in smuggling arms. He allegedly carried arms from Uttar Pradesh and supplied them to banned organisations in the North Eastern states.
Anil used to drive auto-rickshaws while staying in the Khanpur area of Delhi, and started stealing cars after 1995, police informed. They added that he has stolen the most number of Maruti 800 cars since he started his nefarious activities. After stealing the cars, he used to send them to different parts of India and to Nepal. It has been alleged that he killed some taxi drivers during theft, police said.
Anil in the past few years has been living in Assam. With his ill-gotten wealth, he amassed properties in Delhi, Mumbai, and North Eastern states. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also registered a money laundering case against him.
Anil was arrested several times – once with a Congress MLA in 2015 after which he remained in jail for five years and was released in 2020. Currently there are 180 cases registered against him.
Anil has three wives and seven children, according to the police. Lately however, he was trying to lead a life away from crime. He had become a government contractor in Assam and was in touch with local leaders there. Police have recovered six pistols and seven cartridges from him.