Police have issued directives to all police stations for detailed probes into vehicle thefts and not issue the 'no clue' certificate to car owners till six months after filing of FIRs in such cases.

A 'no clue' certificate is a must for claiming insurance from the company with which the vehicle is insured. Police issue the certificate in case of non-recovery of stolen vehicles.

The directive has been issued in wake of a recent letter sent by an insurance company to Patna police in which it has expressed doubts over genuineness of large number of vehicle theft cases in which FIRs were lodged and 'no clue' certificates were issued by respective police stations, forcing the insurer to pay the insurance amount to the car owners.

'The letter mentioned that in the past two months, around 15 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and one tractor were stolen from two police station areas - Ramkrishna Nagar and Beur. The company appealed for a thorough investigation in these cases,' Patna city superintendent of police (SP), central, Shivdeep Lande told The Telegraph on Friday.

He added: 'The police, in course of the probe, stumbled across some facts indicating foul play. Instructions were immediately issued to the police stations to ensure that they do not hand over a 'no clue' certificate to a complainant immediately after his or her vehicle gets stolen.'

He added: 'Instructions have been given to the police to keep investigating the case for at least six months and try to recover the vehicle anyhow.'

The officer said, reports point to a racket, in which people sell off four-wheelers and then claim the insurance amount from the companies.

'The police suspect that the vehicles are mainly sold in the north eastern states and Nepal, which is a good market for used cars. Of what the police suspects until now is that the cars are bought and then after a maximum of two to three months, are taken to Nepal or any of the north eastern states and sold off. They get a handsome price for the same,' the officer said.

He added: 'Once this is done, they come back and lodge an FIR regarding vehicle theft. The police cannot deny the connivance of a few officers too as they are given a sum to make some 'on paper' investigations and file a 'no clue' report, that is the vehicle couldn't be traced within a month's time. Then the insurance companies are approached and the money is claimed.'

When The Telegraph asked what action would be taken if police officers or personnel are found to be in connivance with the criminals, Lande said that if evidence of any police connivance in the racket is found, action would be initiated against the person/s concerned.