Ravi, 38, said to be the mastermind of over 500 vehicle thefts, was arrested after the "receivers" of the stolen vehicles were nabbed. His associates are Moti-ur-Rehman, 28, Pawan, Hitesh Chaudhary, Jajgeet Singh, Vipin, Aamir and Akash Thapa. All were arrested in an undercover operation across Delhi, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal which lasted for one month.
The police said Ravi, Moti-ur-Rahman, Pawan and Aman were also wanted in cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) .
"The gang used to steal high-end vehicles from Delhi and dispose them off in northeast India and Nepal. Over a period of many years, the gang has stolen and disposed of over 1,000 vehicles from Delhi," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Satyendra Garg.
Six stolen vehicles, including Honda CRV, two Honda City and three Hyundai Santros were recovered from the men. Garg said they have solved over 50 cases of motor vehicle theft registered in Delhi and got details of over 500 vehicles disposed off in the last two years in northeastern states of Manipur and Nagaland as well as Nepal.
"The gang used to transport the stolen vehicles to Guwahati within 25-28 hours of the theft using forged documents and fake vehicle registration numbers. From Guwahati, the vehicles were handed over to people in Manipur and Nagaland," Garg said.
The police said they deliberately chose northeastern states to dispose of the cars as the areas are insurgent prone and it's difficult to recover vehicles from there.
Garg said Ravi had hired four drivers who used to drive stolen vehicles from Delhi to Guwahati. "He never drove himself. He used to fly there to strike deals with the customers," Garg said.