Moped thief arrested, friend under scrutiny

Coimbatore: A 53-year-old moped thief was arrested by the city police on Thursday. Police are also inquiring a scrap dealer who bought nine stolen vehicles from the thief.

The accused has been identified as N Saravanakumar, 53, of Pillaiyar Kovil Street at Kanuvai. Police said Saravanakumar was engaged with scrap business but faced huge loss in the business and was not able to repay the loan. Meanwhile, he befriended with Ukkadam-based two-wheeler buyer Shajahan and decided to steal motorcycle.

“As he met with an accident a few months ago, Saravanakumar was not able to ride gear bike and instead he stole mopeds from various places including New Siddhapudur, Ammankulam, VKK Menon Road and Saibaba Colony. We collected some CCTV footage from commercial establishments in Kattoor and zeroed in on Saravanakumar,” said the Race Course police inspector (crime), P Mohanraj.

After stealing the mopeds, Saravanakumar had sold the vehicles to Shajahan who dismantled them and sold the parts of the vehicles for high rates. Saravanakumar had sold one moped for Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 to Shajahan. Shajahan in turn had sold various parts of a moped for Rs 20,000. He used to get profit of Rs 10,000 per moped.

“Saravanakumar has confessed that he stole seven mopeds in Race Course (crime) police station limit and two in Saibaba Colony police station limit. We could not recover any motorcycle from Saravanakumar and Shajahan,” he added.

However, the police have collected Rs 1 lakh from Shajahan and submitted the amount to a judicial magistrate court. Saravanakumar was arrested on Thursday and remanded in judicial custody in the evening. Police are conducting inquiry with Shajahan for buying theft vehicles from Saravanakumar. Further inquiry is on.