Chennai bike lifters caught in the act on camera

Chennai: Two bike lifters who were caught in the act on a surveillance camera fixed in the facade of KK Nagar Police station were subsequently traced and arrested. The duo, identified as Sikkander of Pudupet and his uncle-Sameer Basha of Tiruvottiyur, used duplicate keys to steal bikes parked on the roadsides in MGR Nagar, KK Nagar, and Ashok Nagar, in broad daylight.

Reacting to a spurt in daylight bike thefts, the DCP (T-Nagar) P. Saravanan had formed special teams to crack the cases.  Cops attached to the KK Nagar Police station had angled the CCTV cameras installed in the Police station towards the Sivan Park parking on PT Rajan Salai, which came handy in identifying the duo.
What could otherwise have been a Herculean task, a complainant came knocking on their doors citing that the bike parked opposite the police station was stolen.  

The images of the two were matched with those of all other suspects in complaints of bike thefts in those areas. The two were then identified by the special team, which recovered as many as 22 bikes, mostly in the engine category of 150 cc and above from them.

The particular footage lifted from the KK Nagar Police station to which DC had access portrayed perfectly the duo lifting bikes.  While one pretends to be a pillion rider waiting to hop on the bike, the other acts as if he was the genuine owner of the bike trying the set of duplicate keys on the target bike. Within 15 seconds, the bike is stolen and the duo rides away with it.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the duo would strike only by day and would dispose of the vehicle after dismantling it in the same day at Pudupet market. “We suspect the duo could have been indulging in many more offences. Further investigations will shed light on their role in the bike thefts reported in other jurisdictions as well,” said a senior police official who is privy to the investigation.