Odisha Police bust interstate bike-lifting gang, arrest three from Chhattisgarh

A special squad of Odisha’s Bargarh district police on Monday busted an inter-state gang of bike-lifters and recovered stolen bikes from their possession, said a senior police official

A haul of 31 motor bikes stolen across the district has been seized by the police in an intensive crackdown on the racket of bike-lifters for the past 12 days, said Bargarh Superintendent of Police Prahlad Sahai Meena.

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It is an interstate racket as three of the eight bike lifers arrested so far are from neighbouring Chhattisgarh. The gang members used to keep a close watch on the movement of the owners before breaking open the lock and fleeing with motor bikes parked at crowded marketplaces, weekly markets or in places of mass gathering like Jatra open air theatre show or fair, SP Meena said.

The arrested bike lifters, who were later remanded to judicial custody, spilled the beans during intense questioning. The police are hopeful of making more recovery of stolen motor bikes. A thorough investigation is still underway to delve deeper into the modus operandi of the inter-state bike lifting racket and trace more stolen property and nab suspected bike lifters, Meena added.

The racket was busted after Purna Chandra Patel (32), a native of Kapati village in Jharbandh police station jurisdiction in Bargarh district, reported that during the intervening night of 12 and 13 August, while the Jhulan Jatra festival was being held at his village, his bike was stolen.

A special team of Bargarh district police was constituted and the team traced and seized the stolen motorcycle from Pradeep Bhoi of Jhitiki village under Paikmal police station of Bargarh and Lukeswar Patel, a native of Chhattisgarh. Interrogation of the duo found that the interstate racket was involved in the bike lifting. All the arrested persons have a history of crime, police concluded.