Hubballi: Two groups of vehicle thieves, each consisting of three people were arrested by the Old Hubballi police here on 2nd October, Monday. The police recovered 21 two-wheelers and three MUVs from them.
The accused from the first team were identified as Noorbasha (24yrs) and Zahir (23yrs), both from Tadas in Haveri district and Nazir Ahmed Chandragi (27yrs) of Shiggaon in Haveri.
According to sources, Noorbasha and Zahir stole a bike from Munavalli in Savadatti taluk and two tempos, one at Kallolli in Gokak taluk and another from Hoolikatti in Gokak taluk. Nazir used to change the chassis number of the vehicles.
The accused used to change the number plates and chassis number of the stolen vehicles and later sell them assuring the customers to provide the documents later.
“They had already sold two Tempo Trax vehicles. However, a mini goods vehicle used for the crime is also recovered from them. Value of all the vehicles recovered is worth Rs 18.42 lakh”, said Police Commissioner M N Nagaraj.
The second team of bike lifters consisted of Rakesh Godake (21yrs) of Ayodhya Nagar, Vinayak (18yrs) of Ramadamma colony and Sagar Pujar (21yrs) of Sharavati Nagar, all from Old Hubballi.
According to the police, they were arrested on charges of lifting bikes, and 20 bikes have been recovered from them. They used to lift bikes from Hubballi-Dharwad, Dandeli, Belagavi, Hangal, Davangere and other palces.
A reward of Rs. 10,000 has been announced by the Police commissioner M N Nagaraj to the police team for arresting the two teams and recovering vehicles of worth Rs. 28.42 lakh.