History-sheeter struck when entire team of officials and traffic wardens was out on bandobast duty on the evening of December 31st
The bike belongs to traffic warden Suraj Balotiya; (centre) Head Constable Ashok Dongre who tracked the alleged thief and persuaded him to visit his office and (right) the accused Mohammad Yusuf
At a time when the staff from Bandra traffic division was busy with bandobast on New Year's eve, a man walked into their office and scooted off with a warden's bike.
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When the cops retrieved his mobile number and head constable Ashok Dongre persuaded him to visit him, the history-sheeter rode the same two-wheeler from his home at Kasaiwada in Kurla till Mahim creek before walking up to the destination.
An officer said there are 40 officials and 22 wardens at Bandra traffic division and all were out on duty on December 31 evening. "Meanwhile, two people walked into the Bandra traffic division office and one of them stole the motorcycle, started it after pulling out wires and sped away," said the officer.
Suraj Balotiya, who owns the bike, said he returned to the chowkie at 2 am and found the two-wheeler missing. "I alerted my colleagues and they searched for my bike in Bandra, Mahim and Kherwadi but all the efforts went in vain. Then we retrieved the CCTV footage and showed it to everyone," Balotiya told mid-day.
He said Dongre recognised the alleged thief, later identified as Mohammad Yusuf, saying he had visited the chowkie a few days ago. "He used to live in Dharavi and Dongre had arrested him in a case," Balotiya said.
Dongre said Yusuf's body language helped him identify the alleged thief. He got in touch with his former colleagues at Dharavi police stations and got his mobile number. He then cajoled Yusuf to come to his office.
"He rode the same bike from Kurla and reached Mahim, parked the bike near the creek and walked into the traffic division office to meet me. When I asked if he had stolen the bike, he confessed to the crime and we managed to recover the stolen bike," he added. Yusuf was then placed under arrest.
"Our officers managed to nail the accused within 36 hours," said Pradeep Kadam, the in-charge of Bandra traffic division, who was promoted as an assistant commissioner of police.
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