Delhi-NCR accounts for more than 56% of vehicle thefts in India: Report

Citing data from the Delhi Police, the report said that between the years 2011 and 2020 more than 3 lakh vehicles were stolen in the national capital.

To put it into perspective, a vehicle is stolen every 12 minutes in the national capital and vehicle theft accounts for nearly 20% of total crimes reported in the city.

The report also highlighted that between 2012 and 2021, the increase in vehicle thefts in New Delhi was 103%, in comparison to the increase in vehicular population, which was only around 56%.

Further, the most theft prone areas in Delhi are Rohini, Bhajanpura, Uttam Nagar, Sector 12 Noida, South City I, Gurugram, Dayalpur and Sultanpuri.

According to the report, India’s most popular hatchbacks, the Maruti Wagon R and Maruti Swift were tied at first place as most stolen cars, closely followed by Hyundai Creta. Hyundai Santro, Honda City and Hyundai i10 were in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively. “It is evident that the cars with the greatest demand (and consequently, longer delivery timelines) were the favourite among thieves,“ the report said.

In terms of the colour, white cars are the most stolen vehicles in Delhi-NCR.

In terms of two-wheelers, India’s top selling motorbike, the Hero Splendor took the first place as the most stolen bike in Delhi, followed by the Honda Activa, TVS Pulsar, the Royal Enfield Classic 350 and the TVS Apache took third, fourth and fifth place respectively.

As per Acko, the top three reasons why thefts happen in Delhi are: Lack of parking space in buildings and colonies, leading to vehicles being parked on the roads; the thriving second hand market for cars in adjoining states and across the country; and the close proximity that Delhi shares with borders of other states enables motor criminals to make quick getaways.