GURUGRAM: A 'thak thak' gang, notorious for swiping people's valuables from their cars after knocking on their window pane, has been busted with arrest of three of its members, Gurugram police said on Saturday.
The gang members hailing from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka would usually come by train, but would return by flight, they said.
A sum of Rs 2,62,990 in cash, three laptops, three mobiles, two watches, three ladies bags, three foreign liquor bottles, three catapults, 29 metal balls, and several debit and credit cards, have been recovered from their possession, they said.
The accused used catapults to break panes of cars to steal items, said police, which has taken them on a 12-day remand.
The Farrukhnagar crime unit had nabbed a member of the gang on April 3 near Delhi airport.
He was identified as Venkateswaran Ravendhiran, a resident of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu.
Following leads given by him, two other gang members were arrested from Ghazipur area in Delhi, and were identified as Natraj P, of Kolar district in Karnataka, and Guna Thanik Aslam, of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu.
They revealed that before making their move, 4-5 of them would do a reccee of vehicles parked in a market area or elsewhere.
Once they had decided on a vehicle to target, they would break its pane with a metal ball flung using a catapult, and would flee with items found in the car.
In another trick, a member would scatter 10 or 20 rupee notes/coins near the car and would tell the driver sitting inside that he dropped his money.
As soon as the person would come out to check, other gang members would open the car and make off with any high priced items they would find, police said.
"The members of the gang are fond of drinking expensive liquor. Natraj P and Guna Thanik Aslam have been arrested many times for similar crimes in the past and have been jailed in Tihar Jail and also in Karnataka," said Rajiv Deshwal, DCP, crime.
"They mostly went back by flight. But when the score was not so big, they travelled back by train. They had been living in a rented accommodation in Ghazipur," he said.
"Two more members of the gang have been identified and our team is trying to nab them also," he added.
