DH News Service, Bangalore:
Bangalore, Aug 23: Six members of an inter-state gang involved in car thefts have been arrested by a City Crime Branch (CCB) special team and 51 vehicles worth Rs three crore recovered from them.
This was disclosed by City Police Commissioner Shankar M Bidari here on Friday.
The arrested are Lathief (38) of Kasargod in Kerala, Rajan (44) of Kollam district in Kerala, Javid Khan (24) of Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, Raju Yadav (25) of Bardasi village in Uttar Pradesh, Sheikh Arif (22) of Bangarpet in Kolar district and Abdul Rashid Sheik (42) of Ankola in Uttara Kannada district.
The 51 vehicles — 50 cars and one motorcycle — recovered from the accused were displayed at the BRV Police Parade Grounds here on Friday.
Investigations revealed that the prime accused, Lathief, was involved in several car theft cases reported from Kerala and Karwar. He was convicted in 2003 for three years in a car theft case reported at Kasargod.
When being brought from Kannur Jail in Kerala to Karwar to be produced before a court in another case, he had managed to escape from police custody.
Lathief later joined hands with Rajan and other gang members and began committing thefts in Kerala and other places.
The special CCB team, formed by Gopal B Hosur, Jt Commissioner of Police (Crime) to solve vehicle theft cases, was tipped off about a person trying to sell a black Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle under suspicious circumstances in Cottonpet police station limits on July 9. The police rushed to the spot and arrested him.
The arrested, Lathief, confessed that the motorcycle was stolen. Grilled further, he spilled the beans about his other accomplices including Rajan. The team arrested Rajan on July 30 and recovered eight stolen vehicles from him. Soon the other members of the gang were also in the police net.
Rajan is involved in more than 50 cases of car thefts and has several non-bailable warrants pending against him in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The other accused usually lifted cars parked in front of houses in Mumbai and subsequently sold them in Dharwad, Uttara Kannada and Raichur districts.
Efforts are on to track the owners of the recovered vehicles, many of which are MUVs. Home Minister B V Acharya on Friday announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh to the CCB sleuths who effected the breakthrough.