Man finds 'stolen' bike with traffic cop

NAGPUR: The city police's integrity has been put to question after a man found his stolen bike with a traffic constable attached to the Sitabuldi police station on Saturday.
The bike, which had been seized during a drunk driving action conducted by the police in January last year, had apparently gone missing from the Sitabuldi police station. It was only a strong protest by the complainant that revealed that something was amiss at the police station.
Rajesh Ingle had an emotional reason to be attached to his bike which he had purchased with much hardship with his first income in 1999. He could not tolerate even a scratch on it. Ingle's friend Ashish Sharma was riding the bike when the cops booked him for drunk driving. The bike was seized and kept at the Sitabuldi police station.
Ingle took nearly 10 months to raise the Rs 1500 he needed to pay before the court as fine. When he went to the Sitabuldi police station to get the bike released in November, Ingle was stunned to learn that it had been sent to the dump yard at the police headquarters. However, neither was the bike there nor was any record of it found.
"A constable from the Sitabuldi police station told me that the bike has been stolen its premises. But there was no record of the theft. Finally, senior inspector Prakash Jadhav even threatened to slap theft charges at me," said Ingle.
On Saturday, Ingle spotted his bike parked outside the traffic office (north) near Dossar Bhavan Chowk on Central Avenue. On enquiring, Ingle learnt that the bike was being used by a traffic constable. Ingle said that the registration number of his bike (Yamaha 100) was MH 31 J 8815. The bike, he spotted, had the registration number as MH 31 J 0282.
"The traffic constable initially claimed that he had purchased the bike at an auction held at Sitabuldi police station. Later, he changed his version stating that his relative from Sitabuldi police station had gifted it to him. I could identify it as my bike because of its features like its seat and some stickers. The engine and chassis numbers too were the same with minute differences which seemed to be intentionally done in the records. While I had the documents of the bike, the traffic cop did not," said Ingle.
Cops from Ganeshpeth police station landed to investigate the commotion but failed to take cognizance of it. Senior inspector Dilip Jagdale of Ganeshpeth police station said that Ingle and the constable had settled the matter amicably. "I was too tired to complete the formalities at the police station," an emotionally upset Ingle told TOI.
The Ganesh cops, who did not register any complaint, have kept Ingle's bike in their possession and not handed it over the traffic cop.
Jadhav of Sitabuldi police station said that he was unaware of the latest development. DCP Kishor Jadhav said that it's a serious matter. "Ingle should lodge a complaint with us and we would look into it," he said.