Ashu was accomplice,didn’t know Rathore: Man who named Ashu in six theft cases

“Gajinder Singh has reaffirmed the role of Ashu Girhotra and Sandeep Verma in the vehicle lifting cases. In his statement to the Special Investigation Team (SIT),he said he became friends with Ashu and Sandeep in Panjab University,where they used to study,” a member of the SIT said. “He said to make quick money,he started stealing vehicles,and later Sandeep and Ashu joined him.”

“Gajinder said he used to operate in the tricity. Ashu and Sandeep used to steal cars from Panchkula and Pinjore areas and hand them over to Gajinder,who used to sell the stolen vehicles in Patna after changing their registration numbers. In his statement,he also told the SIT that he did not know DGP S P S Rathore,” the source said.

A seven-member SIT,headed by Inspector General of Police Shatrujit Singh Kapoor,was formed by the Haryana government to look into the fresh FIRs filed against Rathore.

Gajinder and his friends involved in the thefts,Thappa and Kulwinder Singh,were sons of Air Force employees. In 1990,they had come to Chandigarh from Guwahati to study.

Gajinder was arrested by the Haryana Police from the Baner Road area in Pune on Friday. A resident of Bihar,Gajinder is a proclaimed offender wanted in a number of car theft cases in Haryana since 1993.

The police are likely to produce Gajinder in the court on Tuesday.