New Delhi, Dec 2 (IANS) A 45-year-old Nepali national, known as king of stolen vehicles receivers, was arrested here for his involvement in more than 100 auto theft cases in the capital, police said Friday. He had made a movie and a serial in Nepal with the money he earned from crime.
Ganga Bahadur Bhandari was arrested from near Anand Vihar inter-state bus depot in east Delhi last week while travelling in a stolen car, said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Asif Mohammad Ali.
‘When arrested, a stolen Alto car and counterfeit Indian currency with the face value of Rs.8,000 was recovered from him,’ Ali said.
Bhandari was famous as a receiver of stolen vehicles in Nepal and auto thieves used to first contact him for delivery of stolen vehicles.
‘On acceptance by Bhandari, auto lifters used to take the stolen vehicles from different points on India-Nepal border. He was paying 75 percent of agreed amount to the auto thieves in Indian currency and rest 25 percent in counterfeit currency to earn huge margins,’ said Ali.
Born in Nepal in 1967, Bhandari first came to Delhi in 1977 with his maternal uncle, Man Bahadur Karki. He worked in various hotels in Vasant Vihar in south Delhi for three years as a waiter and in other jobs.
Some years later, he returned to Nepal and opened a small restaurant in Kathmandu. He ran it for six years, before being forced to close it in 1991 due to the Maoist insurgency and thus became jobless, said Ali.
After that, Bhandari met Gurmukh Singh, his earlier acquaintance in Delhi.
‘Singh was later arrested by Bihar Police in case of counterfeit currency but escaped from jail. Singh introduced him to Manoj Tigri, an auto thief from Punjab, who used to sell stolen Indian cars in Nepal,’ Ali said, adding that Bhandari then joined hands with Tigri around 1995.
After earning good money from the sale-purchase of stolen vehicles, he produced a Nepali film, ‘Unko Samjhanama’, a love story under the banner of Jayanti Films of Khemraj Sapkota, and a Nepali TV serial ‘Vakra Rekha’, said the officer.
