Car theft racket: Assam cops recover weapons, registration plates

Police have recovered four fire arms including two revolvers and 45 vehicle registration plates from the house of the arrested kingpin of a nationwide car theft racket, Anil Chauhan, at Mirza in Guwahati city on Thursday.

The police also recovered a car believed to have been stolen from New Delhi.

“We conducted a search last night at a house where Chauhan used to stay, and recovered among other items two revolvers, one pistol, one single-barrel gun and 45 registration plates believed to be of cars that Chauhan stole from different places and had disposed of with new number plates,” a senior police officer said.

The police also got hold of a lot of documents relating to a financial company allegedly run by a brother of Anil Chauhan in Kamrup district, as well as a passport in the name of Chauhan. Police suspect Chauhan has invested some of his earnings from the sale of stolen vehicles in this financial company.

The police have found that Chauhan used to donate generously to temples, naam-ghars, youth clubs and women’s groups of the south Kamrup area. It is suspected that he kept a group of youth in Mirza and other areas in the outskirts of Guwahati by making financial donations to such clubs and organisations.

Meanwhile, Congress legislator Rumi Nath, who was arrested on Tuesday in connection with two cases in which Chauhan was booked, has been sent to the Guwahati Central Jail after the chief judicial magistrate’s court remanded her in 14 days’ judicial custody. 

Chauhan’s wife Rita, said to be a primary member of the Congress party was also arrested on Wednesday. “I have known Rumi Nath for many years. I had accompanied her to her constituency many times including during the election campaigns,” Rita Chauhan had told a local TV news channel before her arrest.

The Congress MLA Nath had recommended issuance of car pass stickers for at least one of Chauhan’s vehicle from Assam assembly secretariat. These car passes enable one to take his/her vehicles inside the high-security campus and the state Assembly.

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