|
Ex-NED students held for car theft
KARACHI, Dec 05, 2007: Police on Monday arrested two students of the city's
premier engineering university for their alleged involvement in car theft. Both
young men were first year students of the Computer and Information Systems
Engineering department of the NED University of Engineering and Technology till
they were rusticated for their criminal activities.
Gulshan SP Noman
Siddiqui said that over the last two to three months, four cars were reported
stolen from the parking lot of the Institute of Business Administration from the
premises of the University of Karachi. Interestingly enough, all the stolen cars
were of old models.
Subsequently, the police deployed its intelligence
personnel in plain clothes in close proximity of the parking area, which
resulted in the arrest of Adeel Ahmed Siddiqui and Syed Salman, police said.
Both the students are aged between 18 and 19.
"Following their arrest,
when the information was brought to the knowledge of the NED university
administration, they rusticated the students," the SP said.
Subsequently, police registered an FIR (303/2007) under Section
381-A against Adeel Ahmed Siddiqui and Syed Salman. A stolen car (AA-9136) and
three CNG kits were recovered from their possession, police said.
They
had sold the CNG kits to auto-mechanics supplemented with stamp papers, along
with copies of their ID cards, in order to prove their authenticity as dealers
are often reluctant to buy used CNG kits and ask for some sort of an assurance
to prove the kit is not stolen, police said.
A police official,
requesting anonymity, said that they were reluctant to book the students as
it would ruin their careers, but the university administration had taken a tough
stand and were adamant over the issue.
"We cannot ignore this. Tomorrow
they may carry out a robbery and bring a bad name to the university," the police
source quoted a university official as saying. The police official even conceded
that the family of one of the students had offered money to secure the release
of the boy, but there was not much that could be done.
A police official
said that during questioning it transpired that the mother of one of the boys
had learnt about their activities, but apparently failed to take any action or
chose to ignore it.
A visit to the Mubina Town police station showed that
both the youths were kept in a room that, at dusk, was infested with mosquitoes,
though they had the liberty of ordering tea and cigarettes from the tea stall
that serves the rest of the police station.
When questioned whether what
the police were saying was true or not, Adeel acknowledged that he had stolen
four cars from the university parking lot. Though Salman, wearing spectacles,
promptly distanced himself from Adeel by saying that he was involved only in the
initial two thefts.
Spoilt brats?
Residents of F.B. Area,
both the boys come from educated families, police said.
"I don't know
what came over me and why I started doing this," said Adeel in a dejected
manner. "My parents provided for me everything that I ever asked for. My father
had even bought me a motorcycle when I was in class eight. I used to get daily
pocket money and never wore jeans costing less than Rs500," he
added.
Both Salman and Adeel had got admission to the NED under the
self-finance scheme.
Prior to the admission, according to Adeel he had
passed the on-line test for admission to a university in Houston, US, but opted
for NED.
Asked what drove them to commit the first car theft and when,
Adeel replied that it was in Aug 2007. "Actually, we used to hire cars on rent
and take joyrides," he added.
Once they hired an Alto model car and
Salman, while reversing it, ended up hitting its rear, damaging a light and the
trunk. The rent and damages came up to Rs6,000. "Subsequently, we stole the
first car in August from the IBA parking lot and sold its CNG kit for Rs10,000",
Adeel recalled.
They handed one car to their mechanic and dumped the rest
at different spots, disposing of their CNG kits.
Through his conversation
it was obvious that Adeel had a passion for cars. He admitted his craze saying
that he wanted to take admission in automotive engineering, but his marks were
not good enough.
The chat with the two boys suggested that Adeel was
prepared to take the full responsibility for the fiasco, apparently trying to
save Salman's skin. About rustication from the university, Adeel knew that he
had been rusticated but was not sure about Salman, saying that he had a limited
role.
Asked about their future, once they got out on bail, both the
teenagers were adamant about leaving for abroad. A police official remarked that
it would be at least two months or more before they could get out on bail. Dawn
|
