Miscreants have been caught in the past who would steal vehicles to make an attractive sum through illicit practices. However, a well-off thief in Ahmedabad stole a total of 168 two-wheelers to drive them around the city for a joyride and then leave them off, without selling them. 

The accused, Hitesh Jain, has been caught by the Ahmedabad crime branch.

The Ahmedabad crime branch was tipped off that many branded two-wheelers were parked in an open space near the road leading to Somnath Mahadev temple near the Danilimda-Pirana crossroad.

Based on this information, the police monitored the area and got hold of Jain, who was caught suspiciously riding a scooter.

Around 30 vehicles were also seized by the crime branch in this case, and a thorough interrogation and probe were conducted by the police.

Jain has been involved in around 168 two-wheeler thefts since 2015, out of which 80 were stolen by himself, and he was an accomplice in 87 such thefts. The vehicles were mostly stolen from Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.

Speaking on Jain’s modus operandi, police inspector (PI) JH Sindhav said that Jain targeted vehicles with old, worn locks and operated them with duplicate keys, managing to break the locks in a matter of minutes.

PI Sindhav added that Jain would then drive them around for a joyride and only leave them off after they ran out of petrol, or refuel them with a minimal amount to bring them to an open space near Pirana. Jain had not sold any of the stolen vehicles till now.

To avoid detection, he tampered with the number plates after stealing the vehicle, dismantled the original High-Security Registration Plates (HSRP) number, and deceived the CCTVs at the traffic junctions.

Accused’s criminal past

Upon grilling the accused, police established that Jain, a Shahibaug resident, is a financially well-off person, whose father owns a saree shop in the area.

Jain was also arrested multiple times in the past in vehicle theft cases and was even jailed three times under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities (PASA) Act in cities like Surat, Porbandar, and Rajkot.

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