23-year-old student loses money in online gaming, steals and sells Royal Enfield Bullet bikes to recover losses

Over the last week, the detection branch of Chakan police station arrested five people, including the mastermind Abhay Kharde (23), a third-year BA student who is a resident of Sangamner in Ahmednagar.

The four others have been identified as Prem Devre (20) from Malegaon in Nashik, Yash Thutte (22) of Buldhana, both of whom are BTech students in Nashik, Shubham Kale (24) and Ravindra Gavhane (23) from Ahmednagar.

A team from Chakan police station under Pimpri Chinchwad police was probing back-to-back thefts of Royal Enfield Bullet bikes from various places in and around Chakan since July. While investigating the leads from some of these cases, a team from the detection branch meticulously probed footages from around 150 CCTV cameras. The team established that the suspect who was stealing the bikes from Chakan area was going to Sangamner.

Using technical leads, the police team zeroed in on and first arrested Kharde, who had been using a specific modus operandi to tamper the handle locks and ignition of the Royal Enfield Bullet bikes to steal them. In further investigation of the leads obtained from Kharde, the four other suspects were arrested subsequently. Police have recovered as many 11 bullets stolen from Chakan area since July, along with seven other bikes.

“Probe revealed that Kharde lost a lot of money in an online game. In a bid to recover those losses, he started stealing Royal Enfield Bullet bikes and selling them with the help of his accomplices. However, he further lost money earned from the proceeds of the crime on the same online gaming application,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Dr Shivaji Pawar.

Another officer, who is part of the probe said, “Kharde lost close to Rs 10 lakh before and after he started stealing and selling bikes. The game he had been playing poses a high risk of gambling addiction and involves players placing their bets on the random movement of an object on screen. We believe that Kharde learnt the modus operandi to tamper the handle locks and ignition of the Royal Enfield Bullet through online videos.”