Pune Crime Files: How undercover cops in guise of farm workers took down a gang and recovered 100 stolen bikes | Pune News

The team maintained their undercover personas so meticulously that they even cooked their meals on the farm and went to work with some locals on some occasions. They gathered crucial information about the organised gang by visiting weekly markets and village fairs, where the stolen bikes were mainly sold to local villagers. The seven-member team from Unit 6 of the crime branch was led by Assistant Inspector Suresh Jaybhay. He, being a native of Dharashiv district, could add local insights to the undercover tasks. The operation took place from mid-March to mid-April last year and was closely monitored by a senior crime branch officer.

Assistant Inspector Jaybhay and Constable Nitin Mundhe from the team received multiple tip-offs from their informants that some people were selling several stolen bikes to villagers in Dharashiv, Latur, and Beed districts. The suspects told the buyers these bikes were among the vehicles confiscated by the finance companies from loan defaulters. The undercover operation was planned, and the seven-member team was selected for it. Other officers and staff from Unit 6 monitored the operation from Pune and also provided technical support.

The team maintained their undercover personas so meticulously that they even cooked their meals on the farm and went to work with some locals on some occasions. (Express Photo)

“Our team started living in a village in Kallam taluka of Dharashiv. We lived as farm workers from neighbouring districts. We cooked our own food on most days, and it was a welcome change from our city routines. We mainly used local transport to move in the area and even went to work on some occasions when the investigation required meeting some locals. Initially, we found out that these stolen bikes were being sold in weekly markets and Urs or Jatras, which are village fairs. We even spotted some stolen bikes that were given fake registration numbers as we checked their number plates against the databases,” said a member of the team.

“We zeroed in on two suspects. They would tell buyers that the registration papers of these bikes were awaited. They would accept Rs 25,000 for a bike worth Rs 35,000, and the buyer would buy it at a much lower price, even for a second-hand bike, and start using a bike with a fake registration number. These fake plates escaped the scrutiny of the RTO since these bikes would move only in remote rural areas. The gang mostly sold models of bikes that were in lower price brackets, which the villagers could afford,” said another team member.

On April 19, 2023, the team arrested Yuvraj Sudarshan Mundhe, 23, and Parmeshwar Bhairavnath Misal, 28, both residents of Govindpur in Kallam, who were selling the stolen bikes. Further investigation revealed that their two accomplices, Ajay Ramesh Shinde, 32, and Sachin Pradeep Kadam, 32, were the ones stealing bikes from Pune, the surrounding area and neighbouring districts. Over the next few days, the police team arrested Shende and Kadam.

“Probe revealed that the organised gang and its operation was masterminded by Shende, who is a commerce graduate. He used to work for a private company as a recruitment supervisor and had recruited these team members while working for the company,” said an officer.

Over the next several days, multiple teams from Unit 6 undertook the tedious task of tracking all the stolen bikes and recovering them from the people from Dharashiv, Beed and Latur who had bought them. As many as 100 bikes worth Rs 34 lakh, which were mainly stolen from Pune city and adjacent rural areas over previous years, were successfully recovered.