The Vashi police have arrested three men who stole high-end cycles and rented them out to tourists in Panchgani.
In June, while patrolling, a Vashi police team received information about two men who had come to Sector 14 to sell stolen cycles. “We laid a trap and nabbed them. We found a cutter in their possession,” a police officer from Vashi police station said. The accused were identified as Kailash Ashok Shelar (35) and Mahesh Anand Lohar (30), both residents of Koparkhairane.
On interrogation, the two revealed they used to sell the bicycles to a friend in Panchgani who rented them out to tourists. The accused, identified as Santosh Ramchandra Dhanawade (26) from Ghureghar in Panchgani, was arrested on Monday.
“We have seized 30 high-end cycles from Mr. Dhanawade, which were stolen by Mr. Lohar and Mr. Shelar from various housing societies in Navi Mumbai,” the officer said. The cycles were rented out on an hourly basis to tourists at Panchgani. According to police, the accused targeted the cycles parked around housing societies in Vashi, Sanpada and Nerul. After identifying a costly cycle, they would cut the lock and then make away with the bicycle. “There was a rise in the number of cycle thefts in Vashi when we received information about the accused,” the officer said.
Mr. Shelar has housebreak offences registered against him with the Koparkhairane police while the other two have no such records. The police are now trying to locate the bicycles’ owners .
