Optician's case opens cops' eyes

One such case came to light when the Bangalore East Division police nabbed a vehicle thief who stole vehicles and pasted ‘press’ stickers on them to avoid checks.

“A few antisocial elements are using such stickers to mislead the police. Owners of many such vehicles are not related to the media in any way. I have directed the officers to examine such vehicles thoroughly,” Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari said on Monday.

Wahid-ur-Rehman, an optician from Tumkur, used to claim he was a reporter, whenever the police stopped him at ‘nakabandis’. He had stolen 30 motorbikes and two cars. The police recently arrested him at Tumkur and recovered all the stolen vehicles.

Rehman had committed the thefts at Bharathinagar, Commercial Street, High Grounds, J C Nagar, Wilson Garden, Mysore Road and Vijayanagar. He transported the stolen vehicles to Tumkur and sold them.

Modus operandi

Rehman went to parking lots, unlocked vehicles using duplicate keys and rode them away.

He had sold one of the stolen bikes to his friend Azmath for Rs 20,000. During a routine check, Azmath was stopped by the police. The registration number and the chassis number in the records did not match with that of the vehicle’s. He called up Rehman and told him about the police questioning.

At this point, Rehman walked into the office of Pulikeshinagar sub-division ACP B B Ashok Kumar. He claimed to be an ophthalmologist and said he wanted to conduct a free eye check-up for police officers.

Rehman told Kumar the police had taken his friend into custody and seized his bike. Kumar contacted the Bharathinagar police who told him the chassis number and number plate on Azmath’s bike did not match with the records.

The ACP examined the registration number of Rehman’s bike and found this number and Azmath’s vehicle number was the same. On further probe, Rehman spilled the beans.