City police recover 22 stolen bikes, arrest 13 of vehicle-lifters�

Jamshedpur: City police made a breakthrough by arresting 13 members of a vehicle-lifters� racket and recovering 22 stolen motorcycles in a series of raids in Jamshedpur and Lohardagga from their possession on Tuesday.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP), East Singhbhum, Amol Venukant Homkar said a special task force team set up to crack down on the racket nabbed the culprits on the basis of information input collected from various sources following several days of probe.

�The culprits used to steal vehicles from different places in and around the city and later sell them to agents in different districts of Jharkhand including Lohardagga and other states. We are trying to identify other associates of those arrested. Many more people could be involved in the organized lifting of vehicles carried out by the racket in the last several years,� said the SSP.

The SSP said the police officers who worked hard to nab the culprits will be felicitated. Eight of the bikes were recovered from Lohardagga, eight from Patamada and six from city, he said.

Police said the kingpin of the racket is Ajit Das, a resident of Zone Number 9, Birsanagar. Ajit used to supply stolen bikes to his agent Bablu Lohar in Lohardagga. Lohar later sold the bikes to clients.

Khokan Gorai, resident of Patamada, a bike mechanic, helped the racket by changing parts of stolen bikes and dismantling them beyond recognition. He also helped get fake documents of vehicles, cops said.

Those arrested were identified as Ajit Das, Khokan Gorai, Rinku Nag, Sourabh Kumar Mahato, Mohan Mahali, Sunny Sonkar, Krishna Sonkar, Bablu Lohar, Mahavir Lohar, Rahul Dev, Mohan Mukhi, Amit Mahato and Dinesh Kumar, all city residents.