Less than three days after they stole an Activa scooter from a public road in Vasai, the two thieves landed into the custody of the crime branch unit (Zone II) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police on Tuesday.
The accused who have been identified as-Rahul Suryakant Dalvi (27) and Rahul Laluram Gupta (28)-both residents of Nallasopara turned out to be notorious criminals who were not only involved in a spate of bike lifting and mobile theft cases, but had also committed robberies by voluntarily causes hurt to their potential targets in the past. Alarmed by the series of bike lifting cases in the region, MBVV chief-Madhukar Pandey directed the crime branch unit to conduct parallel investigations and nab the culprits at the earliest.
CCTV cameras scanning gives key clues
Subsequently, a team led by police inspector-Shahuraj Ranawre started investigations by scanning closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the crime spot and possible getaway routes. The team spotted two men who rode away with the parked scooter. Armed with the footage captured by the CCTV cameras, the team activated their informer network and based on inputs provided by them caught the duo from Nallasopara.
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The team also recovered two stolen bikes and a snatched mobile phone from the possession of the duo who were booked under section 379 (theft) of the IPC. Further investigations revealed their involvement in six cases including bike lifting, robbery and mobile snatching under the jurisdictions of-Nallasopara, Tulinj, Naigaon and Achole police stations. Not ruling out the involvement of the duo in more such cases, the MBVV police are conducting further investigations.
