Mumbai Police arrest two men for stealing e-bike batteries

Rahul Chavan, 23, the accused; (right) Shivpujan Verma, 27, the accused

The Borivali police have arrested two men for stealing batteries from electric bikes. The investigation unfolded after a 70-year-old man reported the theft of the battery of his electric scooter on December 11. The incident had occurred when the senior citizen's granddaughter had parked it on Punjabi Lane near her coaching class.

The police registered a theft case against an unidentified person and under the guidance of DCP Ajaykumar Bansal and senior police inspector Ninad Sawant, police sub-inspector Abhijeet Patil and his detection team including constable Shaikh, Farde and Bhoye initiated inquiries said an officer from Borivali police station.

The challenge for the investigators arose from the absence of CCTV coverage near the incident location, coupled with the unfamiliarity of the theft pattern. With no immediate leads, the case remained unresolved. Subsequently, more bike owners whose vehicle batteries were stolen approached the police. In response, the police put together the information from the police from victims and strategically surveyed locations in Borivali, Kandivli and Malad. Eventually, the police identified CCTV footage showing three individuals near the scenes of battery thefts.

Taking swift action, we set up a trap with the assistance of informants, leading to the arrest of Rahul Chavan, 23 and Shivpujan Verma, 27, from the Gorai area while the third accused identified as Sandeep Sahane is still at large. Subsequent investigations revealed that the trio had committed similar thefts in various areas including Charkop.

"With the arrest of these two men, we have successfully solved six cases under our jurisdiction and have recovered 12 electric batteries valued at R3.85 lakh from their possession. Since both the accused are drug addicts, they do not remember the exact location from where they had stolen the other batteries recovered from them," said an officer from Borivali police station.

The two accused have been booked under sections 379 and 34 of IPC. The accused persons were produced before the court which remanded them to police custody. The police investigations will focus on determining the extent of their criminal activities, as well as identifying where they were selling the stolen batteries, said a police officer.

12
No. of batteries recovered from accused persons