The accused and motor-bikes recovered from them, in police custody on Monday. (Express photo)The Bhaktinagar police on Monday arrested four men, including a rape accused, and recovered 31 motor bikes they had hidden at two places, on Morbi Road and in Surendranagar district, after allegedly stealing them from Rajkot city over the past three monhts.
Acting on a tip-off that Hitesh alias Bado Karena (33), Sanjay Mer (30) and Anil Vadekhaniya (19) had committed a number of thefts of motorbikes, a team of Bhaktinagar police station on Sunday detained the trio with two bullets without vehicle registration plates.
“It was verified that the two vehicles were not registered in names any of the accused. Therefore, police became suspicious… and took them to police station… during questioning, the trio confessed that with the help of one Gopal Rojasara, they had stolen total 31 motor-bikes from Rajkot city,” said Rajkot city police commissioner Manoj Agrawal at a press conference on Monday.
The police commissioner said that the accused then led the police team to the hidden vehicles.
Police said that three cases of theft, one of rape and one of violating notification issued in view of Covid-19 pandemic were registered against Karena before his arrest in the latest case.
Bhaktinagar police inspector Jitendrasinh Zala said the gang had plans to sell the bike cheap in villages after stealing them. “But due to lockdown, they failed to find customers and therefore, had to hide the stolen bikes,” said the inspector.