Tinsukia: After a stalemate of more than a year in motorcycle theft cases, it did not mean a lost battle for the Namsai police.
They were quick to bounce back and cracked more than one-and-a-half dozen old cases by arresting four bike lifters from neighboring Tinsukia and Namsai districts, which led to the recovery of 29 stolen bikes, including three on Sunday.
In 2022, a total of 18 cases of motor vehicle theft were reported and registered in various police stations under the Namsai district. Three more cases of two-wheeler theft were reported since January 2023, but the police remained clueless until another theft was reported on February 22 of this year.
“The Special Investigating Team (SIT) that was constituted to crack the theft cases, but was not able to make any headway, got the first clue from CCTV footage,” Superintendent of Namsai police DW Thongon said.
Thongon said that although the collected footage was not clear, based on the physical structure of the person seen in the footage, various sources were engaged, and the accused was identified, and a manhunt began.
The accused was apprehended and arrested from neighboring Tinsukia with the help of Tinsukia police. “Based on the revelation of Ripunjoy Duwara, 27, hailing from Bojaltoli village in Tinsukia, the co-accused was identified as Babul Buragohain, 35, a resident of Sumonipathar village under Sadiya police station,” Thongon said.
“In a follow-up operation, Buragohain was arrested along with Sanjit Shakti, 32, of Mahadevpur while the duo were trying to flee the Namsai district.”
He said, “It was revealed that the duo had stolen one Pulsar bike on the night before their arrest, which was later recovered by the police, while the fourth accused seen in the CCTV footage with Buragohain was arrested from his home in Namsai. He is identified as Girin Sakia, 37.”
Thongon added that during the detailed interrogation, all accused admitted to their involvement in various motor vehicle theft cases, leading the SIT to the recovery of a total of 26 two-wheelers from various parts of eastern Arunachal districts.
The recoveries include 11 Bajaj Pulsar, 3 Royal Enfield, 2 Yamaha bikes, 4 TVS Super Splendor, 1 TVS Apache, 1 TVS Raider, 1 TVS Scooty, and 3 Glamour motorcycles, out of which 4 were recovered from the Dambuk area in Lower Dibang Valley district, 1 from Anini, 9 from Mudoi area in Changlang district, and 12 from areas under Chongkham Police station in Namsai District.
Thongon said that the engine and chassis numbers of all recovered two-wheelers are being circulated to all districts of Arunachal Pradesh as well as neighbouring states.
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Earlier, the rising cases of unsolved motorcycle theft prompted Namsai police to constitute an SIT led by SDPO Namsai Chera Saban, under the supervision of SP Thongon. The team members of the SIT comprised investigating officers of the pending MV theft cases, including Inspector Tabin Padung, Inspector A.K Pandey, SI B.Kathak, SI C.S Kamhoo, ASI R.Noroh, and SI T.Ponglaham.
The team then started interrogating all the previous history sheeters and visited all two-wheeler garages in the district as well as those in the bordering state of Assam, but had little success, until now.
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