5 arrested, bikes worth Rs 12L recovered

Ongole: The Prakasam district police under the leadership of SP A R Damodar successfully cracked a major bike theft case with the arrest of five individuals and recovery of 17 stolen motorcycles, valued at approximately Rs 12 lakh.

The SP explained at a press conference here on Friday that following a series of motorcycle thefts in Darsi and surrounding areas, the department prioritised cracking the cases.

He said that a team, under the supervision of Darsi DSP Lakshmi Narayana and CI Ramarao and led by SI Murali conducted vehicle checks near Potavaram village on Friday.

He said that they intercepted four suspicious individuals on two motorcycles.

During questioning, the suspects confessed to stealing seven bikes in the Darsi police station area and 10 more across the Prakasam district (Kanigiri and Podili areas) and in Guntur, Palnadu, and Bapatla districts. The SP said that the accused revealed they had sold the stolen vehicles to a bike mechanic Gopi from Devavaram village.

Based on the information, the police arrested Ankala Sreenu, Kappala Pawan, Kappala Bhavani Siva Shankar and Bandaru Srihari from Gangapalem and the buyer Gunja Gopi (23) from Devavaram.

SP Damodar commended the investigation team, including Darsi DSP Lakshmi Narayana, CI Y Ramarao, SI Murali, ASI Rambabu, HC Siva Shankar, and PCs Mahesh and Giri, for their excellent work in solving the case.