Thak Thak gang on prowl: Beware! they knock at your car window, divert attention and steal

LUCKNOW Be alert while driving, and especially when your vehicle is stationary and a stranger comes knocking at the car’s window, trying to tell you about a punctured tyre. The Lucknow Police has shared an advisory in this regard after busting a ‘Thak-Thak’ (knock-knock) gang operating in the state capital.

The group specializes in targeting parked vehicles and employs deceptive tactics to distract victims before stealing cash and valuables.

The matter came to light on April 6 when Santosh Kumar Verma of LDA Colony was conned by four members of the gang in Gautampalli. In his complaint to the police, he stated that the conmen deceitfully engaged him in a conversation and stole his mobile phone, purse containing ₹8,000, credit card, Aadhaar card, driving licence and other documents kept on the car’s rear seat and fled.

The four accused, who have a crime record in Meerut, were nabbed in Gautampalli area on Wednesday after the police tracked them through 125 CCTV footages of the Integrated Traffic Management System (ITMS). They were identified as Ravindra Kumar, 26, of Baghpat; Rizwan, 32, Rijju alias Rizwan, 30, Azim, 34 – from Meerut. As many as 23 mobile phones worth about ₹9.50 lakh, which they were about to sell to fulfill their hobbies, and a four-wheeler, were recovered from them, said Ashish Srivastava, deputy commissioner of police (central), adding that the cons often stop vehicles with only one occupant.

“They used to sell stolen phones in Delhi’s Karol Bagh market and on the streets of Meerut. Police are scanning their crime history,” he added.

Explaining the gang’s modus operandi, the officer said: “The Thak Thak gang members knock on the windows of vehicles stopped at crowded places, intersections and traffic signals. They engage people in their conversation, diverted their attention by arguing with them on the pretense of a collision, and then steal their valuables.”

An FIR under sections 318(1), 303(2) of the BNS was registered against the accused. “In order to collect evidence, the police team checked about 125 CCTV footages from the ITMS around the crime scene. On the basis of footage and physical evidence, the police team was investigating the case in the area, when they saw a white car. Subsequently, the police stopped the suspicious vehicle and detained four persons in it and questioning them, exposing their game,” the DCP said.