Duo in 14-day custody for stealing four two-wheelers

NASHIK: Two suspects were remanded to 14-days judicial custody after they were arrested by the crime branch of the city police on Sunday for allegedly stealing four motorcycles. The police recovered four bikes from the duo in Kalwan.
Inspector Sanjay Sanap of the crime branch unit III said, “We had got a tip-off that the two vehicle thieves, Sashikant Sonawane (42) and Govind Sawant (44), both residents of Kalwan tehsil, had stolen vehicles from the Gangapur and Indiranagar areas of the city and were preparing to dispose them.Subsequently, the crime branch department prepared a team of two officers and seven constables and left for Kalwan from where they arrested the duo and recovered four stolen bikes on Sunday.”
Sanap said that Sawant was assisting Sonawane in finding customers for the stolen bikes. Three months ago, Sonawane was arrested, again from Kalwan, and 10 stolen bikes were recovered from him, he added.
The 10 bikes were sold at throw-away prices by Sonawane with a word to the customers that he would take the remaining amount of the deal after producing the documents. However, he never reappeared with thr documents. Police officials said that Sonawane had been granted bail in the last case, following which; he resumed the activity.
Meanwhile, the city police can take some reprieve following the twin arrests they have made, given the fact that the detection rate of vehicle thefts in the city has plummeted to 18% this year till October 31 as against 22-23% in 2012 and 2013 during the corresponding period. In Nashik city, vehicles are getting stolen on a daily basis with 573 such cases registered until October 31, which shows a strike rate of at least 57 thefts a month. The thefts this year are 51% more than last year when the total number of cases registered was 378 in the corresponding period.