Five of a gang of battery thieves arrested in Bokaro

Bokaro: Five men were arrested for stealing batteries from vehicles in the city and rural areas of the district, the police here said on Tuesday. A total of 46 stolen batteries were recovered from them.

The men, aged between 19-40 years, are part of an organised gang which was involved in at least seven such cases in recent weeks, which were reported across various police stations of the district.

The accused were identified as Dhiraj Kumar Verma (21), Pratham Kumar (19), Roshan Kumar (20), Piyush Kumar (19) and Mahesh Kumar Mahto (40). Mahesh, a resident of Jainamoad, was the mastermind of the gang, SP Bokaro Harvinder Singh said. Mahesh ran a battery shop and purchased the batteries, which were stolen from cars, trucks, autos and e-rickshaws, from the gang members. All of them are residents of Balidih, City and Sector-12 police station limits.

“Separate cases of battery thefts were registered at Balidih, Sector-12, City and Pindrajora police stations. Acting on inputs, a special investigation team (SIT) was formed under DSP (Headquarters). Based on human intelligence and technical inputs, the SIT conducted raids and uncovered the gang. The prime accused, Dhiraj, has a criminal history related to theft. During interrogation, the accused confessed that e-rickshaw batteries, being costly, were targeted and sold in the grey market,” said SP.