Police have arrested four individuals on charge of stealing a two-wheeler and selling it; two buyers have also been held.
The arrests came as the Metropolitan Police Circle, Jagati, initiated an investigation into the theft of the motorcycle (Bhe Ja 4413) owned by Laxman Bahadur BK on June 13.
BK’s motorcycle was stolen from the parking area of his rented room in Ward 10 of Bhaktapur Municipality. The investigation started after BK lodged a complaint on June 14.
During the probe, authorities found a special tipoff that the stolen motorcycle was being used by replacing the original registration number.
A team led by Police Inspector Surya Bahadur Shahi of Metropolitan Police Circle, Jagati then arrested four individuals with the motorcycle from Ward 8 of Bhaktapur Municipality. The thieves had replaced the original number plate with Baa 71 Pa 4703.
The Metropolitan Police Range, Bhaktapur, made the arrestees public through a press statement on Sunday. The ones arrested have been identified as 28-year-old Arjun Tamang aka Suman, 19-year-old Bijay Hyangju aka Baidhya, 29-year-old Dinesh Tamang Waiba, and 20-year-old Ramesh Koju aka Sain.
The stolen motorcycle was also seized.
Following the arrests, when the police investigated further, they found that the four individuals had stolen two-wheelers before as well.
The group had earlier stolen a scooter (Baa 36 Pa 1588) owned by Rabindra Nepal from Kirtipur Municipality and sold it.
“We then found out where the scooter was sold and arrested the ones who bought it as well,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Dipak Giri, spokesperson for Metropolitan Police Range, Bhaktapur.
Avinash Tamang, a 23-year-old of Kavre, and Akash Magar, a 22-year-old of Dang, were arrested for buying the stolen scooter from Bhaktapur.
According to DSP Giri, the two were arrested because they bought a stolen two-wheeler.
“When one is buying a vehicle, s/he must buy it following the legal processes. But people buy a vehicle without asking for legal documents and without confirming whether the seller is the owner or not when offered a cheap price,” said DSP Giri.
Nevertheless, in some cases, people are assured to be provided with the legal papers after some days and the seller asks for some advance until then.
The sellers then go out of contact leaving the buyers in limbo.
“We request the public to buy things such as vehicles only after they confirm the legal papers and the owner because if an individual is found to have bought stolen items, s/he is also liable for punishment,” DSP Giri added.
The data shows that around four two-wheelers on an average get stolen every day in the Valley and only one is found.
Source : TRN,
