Jain's car was found abandoned on the roadside two days later by the Maurice Nagar police. The car did not have a drop of petrol in the tank. It was obvious that the thief had abandoned the car after it ran out of petrol.

In a similar incident, a Hindu College student's car was stolen from near the main gate of the college last year. It was found lying abandoned in Paharganj later. The police believe that the vehicles are being stolen by students and other young people for joyrides and later abandoned once they run out of petrol or have served their purpose. As many as 16 vehicles have been stolen from the university parking lot in the past three months.

Last year, 59 vehicles had been stolen from the area. Station House Officer (Maurice Nagar) S.K. Ahuja told Express Newsline, ``There has been a 10 per cent rise in the number of vehicle thefts here. But we have also managed to recover at least 25 percent of the stolen vehicles from the Capital itself. All the recovered cars were found abandoned on the roadside, a few kilometers from the university.''

The police, however, have not been able to make any arrests. The only case where they caught a thief red-handed was a year ago. Says Ahuja: ``A student of Kirori Mal College had stolen a motor cyle from the university campus for a joyride. A policeman caught him after a message was flashed on the wireless to all the PCR vans patrolling the area. Marong Mei Anga was arrested. He is now out on bail.''

Anga has failed to appear in court for the proceedings. A team is being sent to Imphal, his hometown, to trace his whereabouts. The police have not been so lucky in many other cases where they have failed to trace the stolen vehicle. Upender Kaur, a second year student of the Faculty of Management Studies of Delhi University, parked his Maruti 800 in the parking lot before rushing for his class on January 19 this year. He came back after three hours -- the car was gone.

Students apart, even the assistant registrar of Delhi University, B.B. Gupta has not been spared. Gupta parked his scooter in front of the Cash Branch of the university and went to his office. When he returned, the scooter was no longer there.