Police nab bike-stealing duo on stolen two-wheeler

PUNE: Unable to resist the lure of a quick buck and faster bikes, two bosom friends turned motorcycle thieves.

But their luck ran out when a police patrol

nabbed

them earlier this week.

When Atul Chandrakant

Pawar

(23) and

Zahid Fazal Shaikh

(29) failed to produce the vehicle's documents, the police arrested them on suspicion at

Talab

company on the Kondhwa-Saswad Road.

The duo confessed to stealing five bikes, including the one they were riding when they were intercepted by the patrol team comprising senior inspector Satish Govekar, constable Surendra Kolage and police naik Amit Salunke.

Investigations revealed that the recovered bike belonged to Mohammadwadi resident Nitin Pandit. The 26-year-old saloon owner had lost the bike around 8.30pm on July 7. Pandit had parked the motorcycle near T R

Wines

at Adnagar in Undri. He lodged a complaint at Kondhwa police station, but the case remained unsolved for a month.

Pawar, who has a criminal record with Saswad police of Pune rural, and Shaikh are residents of Kivat village in Bhor taluka. He developed a taste for stealing motorcycles and selling them cheap. He asked Shaikh to join him on a commission basis. Pawar would steal the bikes, while Shaikh would get rid of them.

When they realized the potential of demand for inexpensive second-hand bikes, the duo decided to step up their operations. "Pawar's interrogation led to the recovery of four other stolen bikes. Three were stolen from Saswad and the other from Rajgad police station limits since 2016. Two bikes were found without number plates," said Kondhwa police sub-inspector Ganesh Kulal.

"They would sell the bikes for Rs5,000-15,000 and use the money to make merry," Kulal added.

But how did the duo get around the lack of documentation? "They would tell their customers the vehicle's owner had lost the papers," Kulal said.

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