Sleuths of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) Police Commissionerate have arrested a youth from Pune for his suspected involvement in a spate of bike thefts cases in and around the region.
The notorious thief landed in police custody after the traffic cops issued an e-challan to the rider of a stolen bike who was caught for traffic violations in Mumbai. According to the police, the team from the anti-vehicle unit of the MBVV police was probing a bike theft case registered at Nallasopara police station, when the complainant informed them about a message on his mobile phone intimating about an e-challan issued by the traffic police in Mumbai.
The e-challan was issued to a person identified as-Vikram (name changed), who was apparently riding the stolen bike. A police team led by Senior Police Inspector- Vasant Labdhe and API- Shrirang Gosavi under the supervision of DCP- Sanjay Kumar Patil immediately swung into action to trace the recipient of the e-challan. Armed with just the name, the police team used social media platforms and narrowed down to some people and finally zeroed in on the biker.
Investigations revealed that Vikram was unaware of the theft and had purchased the bike from a person identified as-Prafful Tambe- a native of Mangaon village in Raigad. Based on technical surveillance the police team apprehended Tambe from Pune. Tambe has confessed to his involvement in the crime. Not ruling out his involvement in more similar crimes, SPI-Vasant Labdhe said, “As of now we have recovered two stolen bikes worth Rs. 80,000 from the possession of the accused.”
A case under section 379 of the IPC has been registered against the accused who has been remanded to custody as further investigations were underway.
