Youth steals vehicles and sells them on OLX

BENGALURU: It has been found that a 20-year-old youth in West Bengaluru is the culprit of six vehicle-lifting cases.

The police have arrested the youth and six bikes worth Rs 12 lakh were retrieved from the thief, who is identified as Manjunath Hegde, a resident of Sunkadakatte.

The police said that Hegde would create a fake profile on the online buying and selling platform Olx, where he would approach bike sellers and settle an arrangement.

He would fix on high-end bikes like Royal Enfield Bullet and KTM Duke. At the time of meeting the sellers, he would take the bike for a test ride and then speed off with the vehicle.

He would get rid of his SIM card to avoid detection after every theft.

After making his getaway, he would create fake registration certificates (RC) of the stolen bikes.

Then, he would post ads on OLX, offering to sell the vehicles at market price.

Manjunath is from a family of modest means. His father works as an autorickshaw driver and his mother is a garment factory employee.

The police said that the youth failed PU, after which he started getting involved in gambling and betting on cricket matches, by which he lost huge amounts of money.

This led him to steal vehicles and sell them in order to make some money and pay his dues.