Vijayawada: 6 held; 44 two-wheelers worth 18 lakh seized

Vijayawada: Penamaluru police arrested six persons accused of lifting vehicles in Vijayawada and selling in other districts and seized 44 two-wheelers worth Rs 18 lakh. All the accused are from East Godavari district, but settled in Vijayawada for the last two years and lifting the bikes with duplicate keys.

Vijayawada DCP Harshavardhan told the media on Wednesday that the two main accused Sammingi Durga Prasad of Gokavaram mandal and Bellam Durga Sai Kumar from Korukonda village settled in Murali Nagar in Vijayawada.

They used to lift the vehicles with the duplicate keys and sold the vehicles in East Godavari with the help of six others. The city police arrested four other accused Malleti Durga Prasad, Katakam Suryachandra Veera Bhanu, Marisetty Srinivasa Rao from Korukonda mandal and K Venkateswarlu of Chintoor mandal. Two other accused Simhadri Kishore and Malli Sankar are at large.

The DCP said the gang robbed 13 vehicles under the limits of Patamata police station, 11 vehicles under Gannavaram police station limits, one in Atkuru police station limits and the remaining bikes in other parts of the city. He said the value of vehicles is estimated at Rs 18 lakh. The accused cleverly open the locks with duplicate keys and sell vehicles by producing fake documents. The gang use rubber stamps to create documents and change the number plates for the sale of vehicles.

Commissioner of Police B Srinivasulu praised Circle Inspector M Satyanarayana and crime police for arresting the gang and seizing vehicles.