Car
insurers consider customers who have anti-theft devices installed in their
vehicles to be responsible car owners; as such, they reward these owners
through discounts on their insurance premium. From the safety angle and from
insurance perspective, such devices must be approved by the Automobile Research
Association of India (ARAI). The Automotive Research Association of India (
ARAI ) has been playing a crucial role in assuring safe, less polluting and
more efficient vehicles. ARAI provides technical expertise in R & D,
testing, certification, homologation and framing of vehicle regulations.
There
are some which attract a thief more – luxury cars are one. They fetch a good price either as a whole or
when broken down into components, in the gray market, a car is also optimum for
a fast getaway. Recently a notorious car
thief was nabbed attempting to unlock a Tata Sumo in Royapuram. The neighbours
chased and nabbed him and a case of attempted theft under section 379 of IPC
was filed by the Royapuram police. It carries a maximum imprisonment of three
years.
It
is reported that the accused was a drop out from Vizag who began working as a
cleaner in a hotel and got into stealing cars.
Reportedly his debut was a Tata Sumo near Sirkali and then set out on a
spree of robberies across the State focussing on SUVs. He was released from Puzhal prison on bail
only a fortnight ago but again tried his luck.
In
another instance, Policemen were stunned by the efficiency of car thieves
SarfrazNawas and Mohan Kumar who gave them a demo on how they can steal a car
in two minutes flat. The duo were arrested on recently for stealing 22 cars, 14 of them Tata
Indicas.Nawas showed how a quarter glass on the rear of an Indica can be pulled
out and through the hole the car can be opened. His accomplice, meanwhile,
snapped the cable connected to the car's burglar alarm. “In two minutes, they
could open a locked car and drive away ,“ an officer is quoted as saying
reports Times of India.
Police
said Nawas, 33, a resident of Kolathur, turned a petty thief after Class 10. An
Anna Nagar police team detained Nawas under the Goondas Act in 2013, and he
came out of jail on March 19 this year. The team led by the Aminjikarai police
inspector PeriyaPandian nabbed Nawas and Kumar when they were traveling in a
stolen car during a vehicle check in Shenoy Nagar on Thursday .Nawas, who is a
habitual car thief, and his accomplice had stolen more than 50 brand new cars,
most of them registered in 2015. They sold the cars for Rs50,000 to Rs1 lakh to
people who would take the vehicles to other states for resale.
Nawas
and Kumar enacted the operation for police. While Nawas worked a sharp object
to tear off the rubber beading and remove the glass, Kumar ran his hand under
the trunk and snapped the cable that triggers the alarm. No sooner had Nawas
opened a rear door after dropping his hand through the quarter pane, Kumar
opened the front door and slipped into the driver's seat to remove screws under
the steering.Connecting two electrical cables, he ignited the engine.“An
officer was running a speed watch on his mobile phone. He found that the duo
completed the task in 118 seconds,“ said the policeman.“They worked for a gang
that gave them specific assignments. We are trying to trace these people,“ said
a police officer. Nawas and Kumar were remanded in judicial custody.
~and
that should give jitters for some car owners who park their cars out on the
streets ….. and also negates the concept of discount provided by Insurers for
‘anti-theft’ devices being a feature that would prevent thefts !!
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
29th July 2015.
