Pickup Van Theft Probe Leads Cops To Bike Lifting Racket

Cuttack: The Commissionerate Police on Saturday busted a major bike lifting gang while conducting probe into the theft of a pick-up van under Jagatpur police limits.

Senior police officials informed that five persons- who were members of the bike lifting gang- have been arrested and 35 stolen motorcycles have been recovered from their possession following a raid in Keonjhar district.

While addressing a presser, Cuttack DCP Prateek Singh informed that the pick-up van was stolen by some unidentified miscreants on September 14 and its owner had lodged a formal complaint at Jagatpur police station.

“Yesterday, we intercepted the pick-up van during night patrolling and detained two persons while they were escorting the vehicle. During verification, we found that the duo was earlier arrested in bike lifting cases. During interrogation, they confessed to have committed theft of motorcycles in several parts of the State,” said Singh.

On getting information, a team of Jagatpur police station visited Keonjhar and recovered 35 motorcycles which were stolen by the gang from different parts of Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Jagatsinghpur and other districts.

The accused have been identified as  Bhakta Charan Raul, Jagabandhu Raul, Ratikant Pradhan, Prashant Samal and Pratap Sethi.

“The gang had set up a godown in Keonjhar where they used to stock the stolen bikes. They used to dispose the vehicles at a cost ranging between Rs 4,000 and Rs 8,000. All the accused would be brought on remand for further interrogation,” Singh added.

(Edited By Ramakanta Biswas)

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