Motorcycle thieves land in police net

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI, MAY 7. A gang of motorcycle thieves, which used duplicate keys to steal vehicles and forged documents to sell them besides carrying out burglaries across the Capital, has landed itself in the police net.

The police have arrested four men and recovered from them 15 stolen motorcycles besides household goods, forged vehicle documents, house-breaking implements and a country-made pistol. The gang was allegedly involved in 23 cases of theft and burglary in the city.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police (South District), Mr P. Kamraj, today said the accused -- Salim (28), Jagmohan (28), Sudhir (25) and Kamal Hassan (26) -- were the prime functionaries of a gang of eight motorcycle thieves and burglars. At their instance, 15 stolen CBZ and Hero Honda motorcycles, one colour television set, one music system, women's wristwatches, clothes and jewellery have been recovered along with forged registration certificates and licences.

The breakthrough was made by the police when on receipt of specific information they were able to negotiate a deal for sale of a motorcycle -- stolen from Safdarjang Hospital -- with Salim and Jagmohan through a decoy customer in Sangam Vihar. The moment the deal was finalised, the police team swooped down and arrested the duo.

Interrogation of the two revealed that they were involved in thefts and burglaries in Uttam Nagar, Sarojini Nagar, Vasant Vihar and other parts of the city. The police recovered eight stolen motorcycles besides burgled household stuff from one of their hide-outs in Taimur Nagar.

The gang apparently used to change hide-outs frequently to evade arrest. Salim disclosed to the police that Sudhir had a house at Saidulajab village in Mehrauli. A raid was conducted at the kingpin's rented accommodation. Though he was not found initially, the police -- who lay in wait for him at the spot -- were able to nab him along with Kamal Hassan on May 6 after about 40 hours. A loaded country-made pistol with three cartridges and a stolen motorcycle were recovered from the two.

The police claimed that Sudhir tried to assault Constable Vinod but the latter overpowered both accused. Later at Sudhir's instance six more stolen motorcycles were recovered. It was revealed that the culprits used to sell the stolen vehicles with the help of forged papers of Gurgaon Transport Authority.

While the papers were made after changing the engine and chassis numbers, the vehicles were normally sold to students or office- goers, normally for rates varying between Rs 25,000 and Rs 30,000.

As for the other gangsters, the police said while Surender and Asgar were in jail, Jagmohan had recently been released from jail in an attempt to murder case, in which he along with Surender had allegedly fired at one person in a marriage party at Gurgaon.

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