Jaipur police recover 51 stolen bikes, two held for nearly 80 thefts
Jaipur's Pratap Nagar police say they have broken up a two-man motorcycle theft operation that stripped parked bikes from quiet streets across the city, hid them at scattered locations and resold them for a fraction of their value. Two accused were arrested on Wednesday, 10 September, and 51 stolen motorcycles have been recovered, according to police statements reported by Amar Ujala and LatestLY.
Who was arrested
Police identified the accused as Kamlajeet alias Kamal, 33, and Sher Singh, 26, both residents of Sawai Madhopur district, Amar Ujala reported. According to the police account, the two had been living in rented rooms in the Muhana and Sanganer areas and worked as caterers before allegedly turning to vehicle theft.
Kamlajeet reportedly has eight earlier cases registered against him at various police stations, including vehicle theft and Arms Act matters, and had outstanding arrest warrants. Sher Singh has one earlier assault case at Malarna Dungar police station, according to the report. Both remain accused; none of the allegations has yet been tested in court.
How the thefts allegedly worked
Investigators told Amar Ujala that the pair would scout deserted spots for parked motorcycles, break the handle lock, join the ignition wires and ride off. Number plates were removed and thrown away, and the bikes were parked at separate hiding places before being sold. LatestLY reported that some machines were concealed in wells and sold for as little as Rs 5,000 each.
During questioning, police say the two admitted to roughly 80 thefts. Four motorcycles stolen from Jaipur had already been seized in the Malarna Dungar, Khandar and Surwal areas of Sawai Madhopur district, suggesting the resale market lay outside the city.
The investigation
A team led by station house officer Vikrant Sharma mapped the theft hotspots and reviewed footage from around 100 CCTV cameras to trace the accused, Amar Ujala reported. The recovery of 51 vehicles from a single case is unusually large for a station-level operation; police are now matching the recovered bikes against pending theft complaints.
Part of a busier day for Jaipur police
The arrests came on a day when the city's crime desk was already full. LatestLY reported that a chartered accountant was abducted at gunpoint from the Central Park area on 10 September and forced into a Mercedes, escaping only after the car overturned about 15 km away. Separately, the Income Tax department registered a criminal case the same day against a Jaipur-based chartered accountant accused of helping move more than Rs 2,300 crore abroad through fake certificates and shell companies. Both matters are under investigation and no charges have been proved.
For Jaipur's two-wheeler owners, the practical lesson from the Pratap Nagar case is a familiar one: a handle lock alone is little defence against a practised thief, and a bike parked in an empty lane is a soft target. Police have asked owners who lost motorcycles in the past year to check whether theirs is among the 51 recovered.