Navi Mumbai cops bust two theft rackets, recover 43 stolen vehicles

The Navi Mumbai Police in Maharashtra has cracked down on organised vehicle theft busting two separate vehiclelifting rackets arresting five accused and recovering 43 stolen vehicles worth more than Rs 46 lakh officials saidThe operation was conducted by the Navi Mumbai Polices Crime BranchThe recovered vehicles include motorcycles and autorickshaws stolen from Navi Mumbai and neighbouring districtsThe operations were carried out following specific instructions from Police Commissioner Milind Bharambe Joint Commissioner Sanjay Yenpure Additional Commissioner Crime Deepak Sakore and Deputy Commissioner Crime Sachin GunjalPolice were directed to intensify action against the rising number of twowheeler and autorickshaw thefts in Navi Mumbai and surrounding areasHabitual vehicle thief with 92 cases arrestedIn the first case the Crime Branch arrested Nasir Sadiq Khan 58 from the Kharghar police station area in connection with CR No 4902025Police said Khan is a habitual offender with over 92 previous vehicle theft cases registered against himInvestigations revealed that he used his experience working in garages to steal motorcycles erase engine and chassis numbers and sell the vehicles after destroying identification marksBased on CCTV footage and technical analysis police recovered 17 stolen motorcycles worth Rs 582 lakh This led to the detection of 14 theft cases registered at Kharghar and APMC police stations Police also seized tools used to tamper with vehicle numbersFourmember gang held in another operationIn a second major operation the Crime Branch arrested four accused from Dombivli and Kalyan for stealing motorcycles and autorickshaws across Navi Mumbai Thane Mumbai and Raigad districtsThe accused were identified as Santosh Lakshman Dole 45 Laxman Tripunna Masalkar 34 Sanjeev Gangaram Saxena 52 and Kailas Khetaji Chaudhary 38Police said the gang watched vehicle theft videos on social media stole vehicles replaced original number plates with fake plates and sold them by posing as genuine owners26 vehicles recovered 23 cases detectedActing on technical inputs and CCTV footage police laid a trap at Dombivli East and arrested the accused on 28 January 2026Further investigation led to the recovery of 26 stolen vehicles including 21 motorcycles and five autorickshaws worth around Rs 4046 lakh This resulted in the detection of 23 theft cases registered at various police stations in Navi Mumbai Thane city Mumbai and RaigadProbe continuesPrerna Kate Assistant Commissioner of Police Crime CBDBelapur said efforts were underway to trace the owners of three unclaimed vehicles She added that further investigations are ongoing to identify links with other vehicle theft syndicates operating in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region