Nagpur: In a major action, the Crime Branch arrested a notorious vehicle lifter and recovered a stolen Mahindra Bolero SUV, a Tata Ace, a small commercial vehicle, and six two-wheelers from his possession.
The accused, Vijay Mahadeo Bahekar (29), was staying in a rented accomodation at Satyasaibaba Nagar, Jaitala Road. He was selling the stolen vehicles to farmers in Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh, at cheaper rates through his friend. Cops also took his friend Pankaj Yashwant Mendhekar (24), a resident of Linga, district Balaghat, into custody. Bahekar had stolen the Mahindra Bolero SUV from MIDC area. The cell phone of its owner was kept in the vehicle. Using the cellphone, Bahekar and one of his accomplices had allegedly contacted Tushar DnyaneshwarWandre (22), a resident of Vittubaba Nagar, Shivangaon and lured him to provide a driver’s job. The accused called Wandre near Sonegaon Lake and fled with his brand new motorcycle worth Rs 60,000 on the pretext of taking a trial ride. Bahekar then switched off the mobile phone.
However, when the SIM was activated again, cops attached to Cyber Cell alerted Crime Branch sleuths who procured the call data record (CDR) of the cell phone number. After analysing the CDR, a team of the Crime Branch traced Bahekar’s location and nabbed him. During custodial interrogation, the accused spilled the beans and confessed to stealing vehicles from different areas in the city and selling a few two-wheelers to farmers on cheaper rates. Police also recovered four two-wheelers stolen by him.
The arrest was made by PSI Mayur Chaurasiya, PSI Balram Zadokar, other police personnel including Narendra Thakur, Suhas Shingne, Ravi Ahir, Suraj Bhongade, Praveen Rode, Sagar Thakre, Kunal Meshram, Ashish Patil, Naresh Deshmature and Sudhir Pawar under the supervision of Addl CP (Crime) Sunil Fulari, DCP (Detection) Gajanan Rajmane, ACP (Crime) Sudhir Nandanwar and PI Parwate.
