By Alkesh Sharma
Chandigarh, Jan 25 (IANS) If you own a Scorpio, Safari or Bolero here, hold tight. With the highest density of vehicles among Indian cities, Chandigarh has become the favourite haunt of car thieves who seem to be especially fond of SUVs and jeeps.

At least three vehicles were stolen from different parts of Chandigarh every day in 2009, according to police records. What’s more, while there was an increase in the number of vehicle thefts, there was a sharp decline in the number of cases solved.

In the year 2009, 1,117 vehicles, 30 percent of them four-wheelers, were stolen from Chandigarh. It was two percent more than the number of vehicles stolen in 2008, when police registered 1,094 vehicle thefts.

“We have seen a surge in the cases of motor-vehicle thefts during the past year, but we are trying our best to control these incidents. At the same time, we also busted many major inter-state gangs of vehicle lifters in 2008,” Mahabir Singh, deputy inspector general, union territory police, told IANS.

“At regular intervals, we also educate the residents of Chandigarh to remain alert and install gadgets like thief alarms in their vehicles. We are taking this issue very seriously and hope to curb its graph in the coming months.”

Among the four-wheelers, SUVs like Mahindra Scorpios, Tata Safaris and Mahindra Bolero jeeps are the ones stolen most often.

The percentage of vehicle theft cases solved was just 16.29 percent in 2009 - amounting to 182 cases. In 2008, the figure was 25 percent.

The city has the highest density of vehicles among Indian cities - 700,000 registered for a population of 1.1 million residents.

Most of the thefts, 65 percent, take place at night, indicating poor vigilance by police.

“Close proximity with Haryana and Punjab towns make things difficult for us. Most of the vehicle thieves are well-versed with Chandigarh roads and they immediately take the vehicle out of the city,” a senior official of the Chandigarh Police said.

Once a stolen vehicle is out of Chandigarh, the union territory police become dependent on police in other states to trace vehicles and a lot of time is lost in communication.

In 2009, Chandigarh Police busted seven inter-state gangs of vehicle lifters. The trail of stolen vehicles led them to markets in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and even Nepal.

In one case unearthed in 2009, vehicle lifters were operating right under the nose of the police. They were hiding stolen vehicles from the city in a storehouse located in a suburb here. Police recovered dismantled parts of various vehicles during the raid.

“These figures are just a tip of the ice-berg. Hundreds of cases went unnoticed due to the reluctance of police to convert complaints into FIRs. Most of the cops here are deployed to guard VIPs and they have no time to work for the common man,” said Rohit Ruhella, who runs an NGO in Chandigarh.

(Alkesh Sharma can be contacted at alkesh.s@ians.in)