Panvel police bust bike racket arrest four

NAVI MUMBAI: The Panvel police have recovered 39 stolen motorcycles with the arrest of four persons involved in vehicle theft in the city.
The gang of four, led by 26-year-old Arvind Anant Mhatre from Panvel, would steal parked motorcycles by deftly breaking the locks. Then they would try to resell them after preparing forged documents, the police said.The gang was busted by a police team, led by Zone-2 deputy commissioner of police Ashok Dudhe.
"This gang of motorcycle thieves would skillfully change the number plates and the documents of the stolen vehicles. They would then sell them in different cities, claiming to offer lesser prices than the actual costs 'as the bikes had been auctioned off by certain banks',��� said Navi Mumbai commissioner of police Ramrao Wagh. Duplicate stamps, computer scanners and printers have also been seized from the accused. The total cost of the recovered vehicles has been estimated to be Rs 13 lakh.
Many residents of Pune, Satara and other places had fallen victim to their conspiracy and bought motorcycles from the gang. Along with Mhatre, K Sagar was the computer specialist in the gang, who would make duplicate RTO certificates among other documents. Santosh Bhosale (30) and Dilip Dhanaji Patel (24) were the other members.
So far, the police have managed to locate 14 of the actual owners of the stolen motorcycles. Of them, eight are from Nerul, three from Panvel and three others are from Turbhe.
toireporter@timesgroup.com