Bike lifting racket busted; 60 motorcycles seized, 7 held 

Balasore:  In a major breakthrough,  Sahadevkhunta Police in Balasore district today busted a major bike lifting racket and seized as many as 60 stolen bikes after arresting seven accused in this connection.

Acting on complaints of frequent bike thefts in various areas in Balasore, the district police had formed a special team led by Sahadevkhunta police station IIC Pragyan Mohanty and Rupsa police station IIC Ashok Nayak to nab the looters.

The team arrested seven accused who were involved in the illegal trading of these stolen bikes including kingpin Asish Mohanty, alias Raju of Mayurbhanj district.

The cops later seized 60 stolen bikes, mostly Hero Honda and Pulsar after conducting raids in Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj and in West Bengal. All the seven accused were later forwarded to court today.

At a Press meet, district SP Niti Sekhar said the looters had been running the racket since 2010. “We had installed CCTVs at various places in Balasore town to nab the culprits. They used to steal bikes from busy areas like bus stands and railway stations by using a master key and sell in rural areas at low cost ranging from Rs 8,000- Rs 15,000. Investigation is still on as we expect to recover more such stolen bikes,” Sekhar added.