Engineer, two others held for stealing 53 bikes

The Pimpri-Chinchwad police have recovered 53 stolen motorcycles after arresting an engineer and his two associates.

The accused have been identified as Dheeraj Pradip Sawant, 23, of Narhe Gaon; Balaji alias Tatayasaheb Dada Bhosale, 24, of Shahupuri in Satara and Santosh Maruti Shinde, 32, of Wakad.

According to the police, Sawant, an unemployed mechanical engineer, along with his associates, allegedly stole parked motorcycles by breaking locks before reselling them with altered registration numbers.

The authorities recovered 53 stolen motorcycles worth ₹26,10,000 from the accused and claimed to have solved 35 theft cases reported in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune city, Kolhapur and Satara areas. The accused have been remanded to police custody.