Man pinches bike to attend court hearing

Zakir Ahamad Ali Ansari (33), a peon in the criminal court who was suspended for his alleged involvement in six bike thefts, was caught by Traffic Police Constable Shankar Kumbhar on Friday riding a stolen bike on his way to a court hearing in one of the bike theft cases filed against him.

Ansari had been suspended from his job at the Shivajinagar Criminal Court for his involvement in bike thefts in the city. Ansari was earlier traced by city police for having stolen six bikes from various parts of the city in 2010. He was arrested and later released on bail.

To reach in time for the hearing of his own bike theft case, Ansari stole another bike parked on the premises of Sassoon hospital on Friday morning. He was asked to stop at Baba Bhide causeway by Police Constable Kumbhar and ASI Suresh Kharmate for rash driving. When Ansari refused to stop, Kumbhar, on his bike, chased Ansari for a kilometre and caught him.u00a0

Ansari was produced before the court and has been remanded in police custody for three days. The police said that this was the seventh offence of two-wheeler thefts. The Vishrambaug police have booked Khadke under Section 379 of the IPC (stealing) and have recovered three bikes from his possession.

Ansari said that he had stolen the bike because he could not afford to buy one. The stolen bike belongs to Shivaji Bhosale, a resident of Shivaji Nagar. Ansari had stolen the two-wheeler when Bhosale went to meet his relative admitted at the Sassoon Hospital.u00a0

Kumbhar said, "Ansari was behaving in a suspicious manner, and it was confirmed when he did not stop. He confessed the crime when I asked him for the bike papers and the RTO number. The RTO number plate had been changed by Ansari."

Traffic Police Constable Shankar Kumbhar had nabbed two bike thieves on April 3 and July 2 while on duty at Alaka Talkies chowk. Ansari was the third offender nabbed by the alert policeman in the past seven months. Kumbhar was honoured by city police commissioner Meeran Chadda Borwankar with a cash reward of Rs 2,000 and a Good Service Ticket (certificate).u00a0