Thieves use ‘test ride’ trick to flee with 2-wheelers’

  • | Friday | 22nd February, 2019

“Sanjay” demanded a test ride of the motorcycle and never returned. According to the complaint, the suspect fled with a motorcycle worth Rs45,000 from a spot on the Katraj-Kondhwa road.“We suspect that the same group of men is involved in all cases. “We are working on the cases and will soon arrest the suspects,” he said.“In each of these cases, the suspects have taken away the two-wheelers on test rides and never returned the vehicles to their owners,” Pawar said. Police suspect that the same group of men is responsible for all the thefts.Sarthak Richariya (30) of Mundhwa, who works as an executive at a finance company, lodged a complaint with the Bharati Vidyapeeth police station. The duo met on February 3, the FIR stated.

PUNE: A group of men has been stealing motorcycles from sellers on online marketplaces.The group — comprising two men or more — contacts those looking to sell their vehicles by way of advertisements on these websites.The suspects meet their victims on the outskirts of the city, go for a “test ride” and flee the spot.Four such incidents have happened in the city since February 1, especially in the southeastern suburban areas. Police suspect that the same group of men is responsible for all the thefts.Sarthak Richariya (30) of Mundhwa, who works as an executive at a finance company, lodged a complaint with the Bharati Vidyapeeth police station. The complaint stated that a man, who identified himself as Sanjay, had contacted Richariya after coming across his advertisement for a used motorcycle, priced at Rs1.5 lakh.The man got in touch with Richariya over the website’s chat application and asked him to meet him at Katraj chowk. The duo met on February 3, the FIR stated. “Sanjay” demanded a test ride of the motorcycle and never returned. Once he realized he got duped, Richariya approached the police.Similarly, senior police inspector Anil Patil of Kondhwa police said, another man lodged a complaint stating that an unidentified man chatted with him on the website after he posted an advertisement to sell a motorcycle worth Rs75,000.The Cantonment police too registered a similar incident earlier this month. A man lodged a complaint, alleging that an unidentified man contacted him and fled with his scooter, worth Rs30,000, in Camp on February 12.A second case was registered at the Bharati Vidyapeeth police station on February 9. According to the complaint, the suspect fled with a motorcycle worth Rs45,000 from a spot on the Katraj-Kondhwa road.“We suspect that the same group of men is involved in all cases. The suspects won’t share their mobile numbers with those who are looking to sell their two-wheelers on the e-commerce website,” senior police inspector Vishnu Pawar of the Bharati Vidyapeeth police told TOI.Pawar said the suspects use the website’s chat application to interact with their victims. “We are working on the cases and will soon arrest the suspects,” he said.“In each of these cases, the suspects have taken away the two-wheelers on test rides and never returned the vehicles to their owners,” Pawar said.

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