Five arrested, 18 motorcycles recovered

Anantapur: Anantapur police busted an inter-district bike theft racket and arrested five persons, including a minor, recovering 18 stolen motorcycles worth Rs 16 lakh.

The arrests were made in a joint operation by the CCS, One Town and Three Town Police, following the direction of SP P Jagadeesh.

Additional SP D V Ramanamurthy, addressing the media, said that the arrested individuals belonged to three separate gangs that operated across Anantapur and Kadapa districts, targeting parked two-wheelers.

The arrested include: Vanarasa Jitendra @ Siddu (40) of Bhavani Nagar, Anantapur, Sheikh Tauheed @ Sonu (20) of Indira Gandhi Nagar, Anantapur, a minor (to be presented before CWC), Nalla Nachappa Gari Ganesh (22) of Muthyala Cheruvu, Kadiri, Sri Sathya Sai district, Noor Mohammed (23) of Muthyala Cheruvu, Kadiri, Sri Sathya Sai district.

According to the police, the accused formed into three separate gangs and stole two-wheelers from parking areas. They were addicted to gambling, alcohol and other vices. They resorted to thefts for easy money.

Vanarasa Jitendra of the first gang operated alone, stealing bikes from parking spaces in Anantapur Two Town, Three Town, Rural, and Gooty areas. Eight cases were registered againsthim, along with two past cases of bike theft.

The second gang members constit of SheikhTauheed and a minor. They committing thefts in Anantapur One Town and Dharmavaram Two Town limits. Both have 6 cases each, and the minor has two previous cases of theft. The minor has been referred to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). The third gang consisting of Ganesh and Noor Mohammed, who worked as a daily wage labourer and a bike mechanic, respectively, stole bikes in Kadapa (5 cases) and Anantapur (1 case).

Acting as per SP P Jagadeesh’s orders, a special team led by Anantapur Urban DSP V Srinivas Rao tracked down the accused. The arrests were made near SJR Function Hall, Anantapur. The police team included CIs Ismail, Jaipal Reddy, Rajendranath Yadav, Shantilal, head constables Chandrasekhar, Vengappa, Maqbool Basha, Sridhar Murthy and constables Ranjit, Balakrishna, Shameer, Erriswamy, Ramesh, Manohar and Prabhu.

SP Jagadeesh commended the officers for their swift action and urged the public to remain vigilant against vehicle lifters.