Chittoor: Cops bust 11-member gang, recover 107 bikes

Chittoor: District police on on Tuesday arrested a gang of 11 members who stole 107 two-wheelers and a tractor across the four subdivisions of the district.

The police arrested A Vinod Kumar, 25, C G Raji, 47, and S Ravi Chandra, 32, from Chittoor sub-division, while S Satish Kumar, 27, S Venkateshwarlu, 27, K Subrahmanyam, 18, and L Jayachandra, 55, were arrested from Puttur sub-division. Similarly, G. Murali (25), P. Kumareshan (34) and S. Jyothi (50) were held from Palamaneru sub-division.

Sajjala Yugandar, 26, was the lone accused from Sri City while Kumareshan, Satish Kumar, Jayachandra and Murali are from Tamil Nadu.

District SP S Senthil Kumar told the media here that following the registration of multiple vehicle theft cases in the district, he had ordered sub-divisional police officers to crack these cases.

The police formed teams and went ahead cracking down on the cases.

"During the investigation, it was found out that these stolen vehicles were being sold in Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu by the gang of 11," he said. According to police, the accused would lift two-wheelers parked in front of residences, shopping malls and shops.

"After stealing the vehicles, they used to sell them cheap. They resorted to stealing vehicles to get easy money and fund their wayward lifestyle," Senthil Kumar noted.

Sub-division wise two-wheeler seizures included 35 from Chittoor, 37 from Puttur, 28 from Palamaneru and eight from Sri City, totalling 107 vehicles.