New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) A notorious thief wanted for over 300 vehicle thefts during a 14-year career and who escaped from police custody in 2009 in Bollywood style was arrested here Monday, police said.

Manoj Bakkarwala, 36, was married to luxury and was in relationship with a young woman in Haryana and financed her business administration studies.

He escaped June 20 last year with the help of associate Pradeep and girlfriend Tina after hatching a plot that took his Haryana Police captors by surprise.

When he was produced in a court in Saket in south Delhi, his associates befriended the policemen taking Bakkarwala back to Haryana.

The pair told the gullible policemen to travel in their car. When they halted for food in Gurgaon, Pradeep gave the car keys to the policemen and went with them to buy food.

Bakkarwala was quietly provided with duplicate keys by his girlfriend who was with him in the car. While the police ate their food, they sped away.

On Oct 17, 2011, he dodged police in the capital by knocking down a sub-inspector with his car and firing twice at a police team.

His luck finally ran out early Monday when a special police team nabbed him near the Ghazipur border in Delhi when he was coming from Uttar Pradesh in a stolen Volkswagen.

A .32 bore pistol, two magazines and eight bullets were seized from him.

An expert driver, Bakkarwala carried a reward of Rs.1 lakh on his head, jointly announced by police in Delhi and Haryana.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Arun Kampani said his associates Rajkumar, 19, and Jaidev Singh, 20, were later arrested from the Anand Vihar bus stand in east Delhi.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav remanded Bakkarwala to 10 days police custody along with his associates.

Kampani said Bakkarwala preferred stealing cars late at night or early in the morning. He changed his accomplices from time to time and constantly changed his hideouts.

The carjacker, who allegedly started his criminal life in 1998 along with Makhan, was first arrested the same year and then in 2003.

After being on bail, he was arrested in Haryana again in 2007 but escaped in July 2008.

On May 8, 2009, he gave the slip to Delhi Police. He was hurt in a brief gun battle then.