Ishita Malakar, Pune
In a village in Pune’s Dharashiv district which is located in Kallam Taluka, a team of seven policemen from the crime branch camped for one whole month to find out the main culprit behind some stolen vehicles. These stolen vehicles were then sold out in the Marathwada region’s Dharashiv, Latur, and Beed Districts.
This group of policemen camped in the village disguised as farm workers following the one-month-long operation. It was so meticulously done that the people living in that village could never figure it out. The team was led by Assistant Inspector Suresh Jaybhay, a native who originally belonged to the Dharashiv district. On his command, the undercover cops cooked their own meals and even went out to farm with the farmers on some days so that nobody would suspect. The entire operation was looked after by a senior crime branch officer from Unit 6 who would provide technical support if needed.
As these policemen stayed there for one whole month, they communicated with the local people and came to know that the stolen bikes were being sold in village fairs called Jatras or weekly markets. They even found out bikes being sold in fairs with fake registration number plates. These bikes were sold at much cheaper rates than their original prices and the people would pay the amount. This gang only sold bikes which were lower in price since the villagers could only afford them. And because these bikes were used by the village people for travelling in rural areas, these would easily escape the scrutiny of RTO with their fake number plates.
It was in April that a police team led by Assistant Inspector Jaybhay and Constable Nitin Mundhe arrested Yuvraj Sudarshan Mundhe, 23 and Parmeshwar Bhairavnath Misal, 28 both of whom belong from Govindpur in Kallam. On further investigation, the police came to know that the other two accomplices who mainly stole the bikes were Ajay Ramesh Shinde, 32 and Sachin Pradeep Kadam, 32 who were arrested in the following days.
On questioning, the police came to know that this gang was led by Shinde who is a commerce graduate and had the other three people hired while he was working at a private company.
In the following days, the team of police from Unit 6 tracked down all the stolen bikes and recovered them from the buyers in Dharashiv, Latur, and Beed districts. The total of 162 bikes amounted to about Rs 54 lakhs which were finally recovered.