The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : 108 stolen bikes recovered

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Tuesday, Jul 08, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

108 stolen bikes recovered

Staff Reporter

Ex-RTA agent takes to crime following business losses

— PHOTO: P.V. Sivakumar

prize catch: Commissioner of Police B. Prasad Rao inspecting the 108 two-wheelers seized from a couple by the Nallakunta police on Monday.

HYDERABAD: Suspicion raised by a mechanic over an offer to sell a bike at dirt cheap price helped police recover 108 stolen bikes worth Rs. 45 lakh from a couple on Monday.

R. Rajendra Prasad was in his garage at Vidyanagar when N. Pushpalatha, 37, approached him offering to sell a bike on Monday last. She claimed that her husband N. Madhusuhan Reddy, 43, was sick and badly needed money for his treatment.

To make him believe it was her own vehicle, she presented the Registration Certificate (RC) book that was in her name. “But it only heightened my suspicion because you rarely find a motorcycle registered in a woman’s name,” recalled Mr. Prasad. He alerted the police who picked her up when she came to the garage in the evening to settle the deal.

Subsequently, the police raided her house and found her husband Reddy possessing several fake RC books. He admitted to police that he used to steal motorcycles and prepare fake RC books and no objection certificates since he was familiar with the formats having worked as a RTA agent earlier at Karimnagar.

Fake documents

The couple was arrested and remanded to judicial custody. They were later taken in police remand and the stolen bikes recovered. The ex-RTA agent would mortgage each bike for Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000 with pawn brokers by presenting fake documents and never took them back, City Police Commissioner B. Prasada Rao told a press conference. He had also sold a few of the stolen vehicles. Hailing from Karimnagar town, Reddy was arrested there in 1994 on a similar charge. After coming out of jail on bail, he shifted to city.

By securing loans from private persons at high rate of interest, he ventured into different businesses but suffered losses and got addicted to liquor. Unable to withstand pressure from financiers to clear the debts, he started stealing motorcycles using false keys.

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Andhra Pradesh