Man held for stealing high-end bikes kept for sale in Charkop

The stolen bikes that were recovered, Pic/Samiullah Khan

The Charkop police arrested a man, who allegedly cheated people putting their expensive motorbikes for sale on a popular product selling website. The officials have recovered 5 high-end motorbikes including Kawasaki Ninja, KTM, and KTM Duke from his possession worth Rs 12 lakh. The accused has been identified by the police as Arif Vakil Khan (19) a Ghatkopar West resident.

According to the police, his modus operandi was to target people and bikes priced in lakhs that were put on the website. He would approach them, posing as a buyer and after finalising the deal, he would flee with the vehicles on the pretext of taking a test drive. A few days later, he would take the bikes off sale. He would also spread this information among his friends, said a police officer.

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During the interrogation, Khan confessed of stealing bikes in the pretext of buying them in Kala Chowki, Versova and DN Nagar area in the last few months. The police have recovered five bikes from his possession which were parked in the various areas in Ghatkopar and its nearby localities.

According to the police sources, a similar case was registered last month when a complainant, Anirudh Desai who resides in Charkop and was planning to relocate to another country, put his Kawasaki Ninja bike for sale on the website. Khan approached him and when the deal was finalised he fled with the bike on the pretext of taking a test drive. Desai waited for a few hours and tried to contact his number several times. When Khan did not reply, he approached the police and registered a complaint against him.

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Under the guidance of senior inspector Vitthal Shinde and detection officers API Nilesh Shinde and API Chavan, the police began investigating the case with the help of an informer. On August 2, they picked up Khan from Renuka Nagar where he came to sell a KTM bike. He was booked under section 406(Punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 420 (Cheating and dishonestly) of IPC on August 3, was produced before the court and was remanded in police custody till August 8, said senior inspector Shinde. The police are further investigating the matter.

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