Cuttack: Chauliaganj police have busted an inter-district bike-lifters gang and arrested two of its members. The police seized 19 motorcycles and two cell phones from them.
“The members of the gang were active in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Jagatsinghpur, Nayagarh and Puri and regularly lifted motorcycles. Prakash Padhihari alias Litua, who is believed to be the gang leader, and six of his associates are still on the run,” ACP (zone 1) Trinath Mishra told a press conference here Thursday.
Mishra said Litua, who hails from Bhanpur in Sadar police limits, had served a jail term for some offences. After his release from the jail three months ago, he formed an eight-member gang.
Explaining the gang’s modus operandi, Mishra said the robbers used to look for crowded places to lift motorcycles after unlocking them with master keys.
Sources said Chauliaganj police had a breakthrough in their investigation when they intercepted two youths on suspicion during a routine patrol near OMP Square Wednesday night.
During interrogation, the duo confessed that the bike they were riding on was a stolen one. After further interrogation, the police got full details of the gang.
The arrested youths were identified as Bunty Roul alias Jitu of Bhattsahi in Sadar police limits and Chandan Kishore alias Chandu of Balisahi.
The accused duo told the police that they used to keep the stolen bikes at Mancheswar, Ragulgarh, Laxmisagar, Malisahi and Bargarh before selling them. Acting on their information, a team led by Chauliaganj inspector-in-charge Ajay Kumar Das had raided various places and recovered 17 stolen bikes.
While motorcycles stolen from urban areas were sold in rural areas, those lifted from villages were sold in cities. The gang had tampered with the engine and registration numbers of the bikes to dodge detection, the police said.
Police are hopeful that more stolen bikes will be recovered once the brain behind the gang and its other members are nabbed. A case has been registered under Sections 379, 420, 201, 120 (B) and 34 of IPC. The arrested duo was produced before the sub-divisional judicial magistrate court that sent the two to judicial custody, police said.
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