Con conned

Delhi's most wanted car thief Manoj Bakarwara was forced into the cop net when thieves raided his house and gave him a Rs 10-lakh shock

Travelling in a flashy luxury car and armed with a Blackberry phone, he could have easily passed off as a jet-setting corporate. The only jarring element was the pistol he had on him with live cartridges.u00a0

Manoj Bakarwara, the real life Lucky, believed in living life king size; and stealing around 500 cars to fund that good life came easy to him. But on Tuesday, his dream run was halted when the Special Cell of the Delhi police arrested him. Unfortunately for the conman, he was forced to flee his safe haven in Himachal Pradesh when thieves targeted his house there.

One of Delhi's most wanted car thieves, Bakarwara has been giving cops sleepless nights. He and his gang of 15 had a reward on his head and had escaped twice from police custody. "Bakarwara has confessed to have stolen around 500 cars," said Yudhbir Singh Dadwal, commissioner of police, Delhi.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

Smart Alec

A super car thief, Bakarwara has been stealing luxury cars for the last 11 years and was nearly nabbed in the first week of May but he fired at the raiding police party that had laid a trap to catch him near Rohini.

Along with Bakarwara, his gang members identified as Surwan Singh, a constable posted with the Punjab police, Prabhsharan, an LLB student, and two more were arrested by the police on Monday. They tipped the cops off about Bakarwara.

Kahani filmi hai

According to the police, Bakarwara has a lot in common with super thief Bunty, who is currently in jail and was glamourised in the film Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye.

A smooth operator, Bakarwara had a girlfriend in Haryana, whose MBA education he was funding. To evade arrest, he was hiding in a rented apartment in Solan, Himachal Pradesh. Unfortunately, his house was robbed and he was forced to move out from there.

"Thieves made away with cash and belongings worth Rs 10 lakh from his rented house in Solan. But Bakarwara had not reported the matter to the police fearing his own arrest. But his landlord reported the matter to the police after which he fled Himachal Pradesh. He put up in Chandigarh and at other places after fleeing Solan," said a senior police official involved in the case.

Sources in the police said after the arrest of around 18 members of his gang since February, Bakarwara had tried to come clean and start a business in Himachal Pradesh. "However, after fleeing Solan he had no option but to return to car thefts," added the senior police official.

The way he worked

Sources in the police said Bakarwara didn't trust any one in his gang and stole the cars himself. Other members of his gang sold them off.

"However, luxury vehicles costing above Rs 10 lakh were sold by Bakarwara himself. During his visits to Delhi, he would only travel in luxury vehicles with a laptop and an expensive phone so that the police would not be suspicious," said the official.u00a0

During interrogation, Bakarwara revealed he stole luxurious vehicles from posh areas but only at morning or night, especially when cleaners or drivers were at work. "He preferred stealing cars when they were being driven by drivers. He avoided owner-driven cars as he feared stiff resistance," cops said.