Politicians’ bike rallies a sham cooked up by criminals

Gang that doubles as suppliers of men, motorcycles held

The gang of criminals which doubles as suppliers of motorcycles for rallies presented before media in Vijayawada on Thursday.

The ‘motorcycle rallies’ through which city politicians display their strength are merely the gathering of some criminal elements and their accomplices and not the supporters.

The city police on Thursday busted a notorious four-member gang of youngsters not only involved in crimes like burglaries, motorcycle thefts and chain snatchings but also double as agents supplying a huge number of motorcycles and riders for rallies mostly organised by politicians.

When they were produced before media, the kingpin M. Baladurga Prakash alias Balu, a second-year degree student, told reporters that he had supplied motorcycles to all the political parties charging ₹100 per vehicle. Asked if he puts in stolen vehicles too, Balu said he would send out a message to students and lead the interested ones to the rally. He also leads the rallies as directed by the organisers.

Commissioner of Police D. Gautam Sawang said it had become a negative culture where in the name of rallies hundreds of youngsters including criminal elements honk, rev, perform stunts, create nuisance and scare the public besides obstructing traffic flow. “We receive several complaints whenever there is a motorcycle rally. We are discouraging motorcycle rallies and will soon talk to the stakeholders and prohibit any them hereafter. The gang has a capacity to supply 100 bikes for rallies,” Mr. Sawang said.

The four met at Vizag jail

Mr. Sawang said the gang consisting of Balu, Ch. Purushotham alias Akhil, 23, of Visakhapatnam, Sk. Jani Basha, 20, of city and N. Harish, 22, of Gudivada became friends while serving jail term in Visakhapatnam and teamed up to earn easy money.

Akhil is a habitual offender and has a history sheet with 48 cases including rape in Visakhapatnam, Gudivada, Tenali and Srikakulam, he said.

Cricket betting

The gang was also involved in cricket betting and had a link to the suicide of engineering student G. Vamsi Teja because of betting debts in November last year.

On Thursday the gang was arrested on charges of committing a burglary of a house in Maruti Colony in Patamata a fortnight ago. The gang later mortgaged the stolen gold, police said. Gold ornaments weighing 58 grams, 2.4 kg silver, a laptop, a video camera all worth ₹18 lakh had been recovered from them.

While Balu has been earlier booked in 14 cases in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, Jani was booked in nine cases including murder attempt and Harish in more than six cases.