If you thought only Indian soap operas and film characters underwent ‘plastic surgeries’ to become someone else, reality just got stranger than fiction.

On October 13, the Delhi police finally arrested Kunal, a vehicle thief involved in at least 62 cases. Kunal had undergone plastic surgery about four years ago to avoid arrest. But the law finally caught up with him.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Romil Baaniya said Kunal was arrested from Nehru Place in south Delhi. The officer said he used to steal vehicles and sell them.

Kunal's interrogation also led to his accomplices Irshad Ali as well as Mohammad Shadab who used to buy stolen cars, police said. While Kunal was a Delhi resident, both Ali and Shadab were from Uttar Pradesh. 

Baaniya said Kunal was involved in 62 cases of vehicle thefts in Delhi and neighbouring areas, and he was declared a proclaimed offender. He had undergone plastic surgery about four years back to change his identity in order to avoid arrest.

According to Chayyanika Nigam's report in Mail Today, Kunal had started with petty thefts and progressed to burgle houses in 1997. He allegedly had a lavish lifestyle and began stealing cars too.   

After the police made the arrests last week, they also recovered 12 stolen cars.

The 12 stolen SUVs recovered by the police

Their interrogation revealed that before stealing a car, the accused first found vehicles declared as "total loss" by insurance companies but whose documents had not been destroyed. 

Baaniya said that once the accused got hold of the documents, they would find similar cars and then steal them.

They would then change the chassis and engine number of the vehicles and sell them in the market.

The police are now trying to arrest others who helped the accused. 

(All photos courtesy @DCPSEastDelhi/Twitter)

(With IANS inputs)