Cops in top gear to nab vehicle thieves

NASHIK: The city police launched operation 'all out' on Sunday in a bid to control the rise in vehicle thefts this year through intensive nakabandi, checking criminals on record and conducting meetings to spread awareness among citizens about the measure to secure their vehicles.
The Nashik police conducted the operation on Sunday evening by deploying most of their personnel, including senior police officers, are on the streets for policing.All the eleven police stations of the city were instructed to conduct nakabandi in their respective jurisdiction.
Deputy commissioner of police Avinash Bargal said, "It has been noticed that there are no specific areas in the city that are prone to vehicle thefts. Vehicles are stolen from almost every place and even when they are parked in front of houses. Thus, the aim of the all-out operation was to spread awareness among people to take precautions to ensure that their vehicles are not stolen."
Officials said that in many cases motorists did not secure their vehicles with handle locks. "Earlier, people used to put an additional chain lock on the front or the real wheel of the vehicle. Nowadays, very few people use the old method. Even the new wheel locks available in the market for around Rs 600 are not being used on a large scale. During the meetings with the residents of different areas, we asked them to take such simple steps to secure their vehicles," the DCP said.
There has been a spurt in cases of vehicle theft with a 43% rise this year as against last year. The city police have registered 276 cases of vehicle theft this year from January 1 to May 31, which means around 55 vehicles have been stolen every month. Last year, there were 192 cases of vehicle theft registered with the police during the same period.
The police had said they suspected the involvement of local criminals in vehicle thefts. Officials had said that in many cases, the stolen vehicles were found abandoned in different places.
A couple of months ago, the city police had arrested a group of teenagers, who used to steal bikes just for excitement and abandoned them after the vehicles ran out of fuel. Besides, officials said the bikes of a specific make were being stolen in large numbers.
Though not all police stations had prepared the report of the all-out operation, the Indiranagar police said that they took six public meetings at Vadalagaon, Kalanagar Bus Stop, Vinay Nakagar and three society meeting. The slums at Vadala, Bharatnagar, Rajeev Nagar and Bhagat Singh slums were checked. The police said that they went to check 15 criminals but found only four of them in Indiranagar.
The Satpur police said that they checked the slums at Kamble Wadi, Swarbabanagar, Mahadev Wadi and Rajwada areas and conducted meetings in different gardens as well as residential colonies in the Satpur area.