The Navi Mumbai Crime Branch’s Unit I has arrested three people who stole 62 Royal Enfield Bullet bikes from Maharashtra and Goa between September 2020 and January 2021. Forty-four bikes worth ₹1.30 crore have been recovered.
The accused have been identified as Amol Shivaji Dhobale (35), a resident of Ghatkopar; Sohail Imtiaz Shaikh (28), a resident of Mumbra; and Saurabh Milind Karanje (23), a resident of Vikhroli. Unit I officials found that in all 12 cases filed in Navi Mumbai, bikes were stolen in the evening.
Additional Commissioner of Police B.G. Shekhar Patil said CCTV footage showed that the accused used an ignition switch to start the engine. “Usually, thieves break the handle lock or open the socket,” he said.
Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Bipin Kumar Singh said the accused used an ignition switch worth ₹500 to steal a bike worth lakhs within seconds. He said, “We would be writing to the company to add some more protective features.”
Mr. Singh said one accused would watch the bike, while another would track the owner who would have entered a shop or a mall. The third accused would attach the ignition switch to the jointer of the bike’s ignition box and start it, he said.
Mr. Singh added that the accused targeted Bullet bikes owing to their good resale value and attraction among the youth. “The accused posed as recovery agents of banks and sold the bikes to youths at ₹50,000. They also forged RC books to make the buyers believe the bikes were authentic.”
The Crime Branch’s Unit I formed four teams under senior police inspector Sunil Shinde and deployed them in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Akluj in Ahmednagar, and Osmanabad, where the accused had sold the bikes.
The accused had 14 cases registered against them with Thane police, 12 with Pimpri-Chinchwad police, three with Mumbai Police, and one each with Pune city, Pune rural, Ahmednagar, and Goa police. Unit I also seized a stolen car that the accused had used to go on a trip to Goa and steal a bike.
The first arrest was made on January 22. The accused have been remanded in police custody till Sunday. Mr. Shinde is conducting further probe into the case.
