The Mumbai Police Crime Branch has busted a gang that allegedly specialises in stealing gearless scooters in the Andheri to Malad belt. Two of the three accused booked in the case are minor boys aged 17 and 15 years.
According to the Crime Branch officials, the racket was busted after police sub-inspector Ajit Kangude with the Unit XI received a tip-off that some people would be coming to the Lotus Lake area in Malwani, Malad to sell stolen scooters. Acting on the information received, Unit XI officers laid a trap at the spot and intercepted three suspects who had come with two scooters.
“The suspects were questioned and they admitted to having stolen the scooters, one from Versova and the other from Dindoshi. The two scooters were seized as evidence and based on the results of the suspects' questioning, we also recovered three more scooters from them. These three scooters had been stolen from Dindoshi, Malwani and Versova,” a Crime Branch officer said.
The officer added that one of the three suspects, identified as Ganesh Patel, was placed under arrest, while the other two, who are minors, were sent to the juvenile detention centre in Dongri. All three have been charged with theft under the Indian Penal Code.
“The accused seem to specialise in stealing scooters like Activas and other Scooters. They would scout the suburbs for parked scooters and identify their targets. Subsequently, two of them would keep a watch while the third would take impressions of the lock to make duplicate keys. Once the duplicate keys were ready, they would return and steal the scooters,” the officer said.
The arrested accused has been handed over to the Dindoshi police for further inquiries, and the Malwani and Versova police, too, will be seeking their custody for inquiries in their respective cases.
The police are also obtaining details about other scooters stolen in the Andheri to Malad areas to find out if the accused were involved in any of these cases as well.
Investigations are also underway to ascertain whether there are any other accused involved in this racket, officers said.
