Mumbai, Jul 8 (IANS): In a bizarre theft, a 90-feet long, cable-laying service bridge made of iron and weighing around 6 tonnes belonging to the Adani Electricity Ltd., was stolen from the suburban Goregaon recently, officials said.

During the Covid pandemic, the temporary bridge was erected over an open gutter in Bangur Nagar area, to help transport massive electric cables of the electricity major.

Later a permanent bridge came over there in April, and the old structure was removed and shifted aside nearby, said AEL sources.

Lying there discarded and unattended, four persons sensed a kill and allegedly hatched a plot to pinch the huge bridge, valued around Rs 200,000, with a crane and a truck, around mid-June

Some 12 days ago, AEL officials visiting the site were rattled to discover that the familiar old bridge dumped there was ‘missing’ and quickly lodged a complaint with the Bangur Nagar Police Station, which initiated the probe.

After lodging the FIR the police surveyed the area but there were no cameras in the vicinity, so they scanned the CCTVs on the roads to trace the asset.

They finally got lucky and tracked a fully equipped truck with gas-cutters and other gadgets, approaching the discarded bridge on June 11, and the cops got cracking on the case.

They cut the metal bridge into manageable pieces, loaded it onto a truck and whisked it off from there as AEL remained in the dark about the sly operation.

The police launched a manhunt and finally nabbed the four, including one who is employed with the contractor entrusted with constructing the makeshift bridge.

An AEL spokesperson confirmed the developments and said that the stolen bridge pieces have also been recovered with police help even as further investigations are underway.