Wannabe cop turns bike thief

Unable to clear the police recruitment exam, youth becomes a conman; steals 22 bikes in a span of two years

Wannabe cop turns bike thief

Unable to clear the police recruitment exam, youth becomes a conman; steals 22 bikes in a span of two years

After appearing for the poli ce recruitment exam thrice, he joined the Home Guard in 2008. However, he resorted to stealing bikes, allegedly to support his family.

Dhananjay Ghodke (30), a resident of Satara, is now cooling his heels in the police lock up after cops recovered 22 bikes, which he sold to people in Purandar district at a throw away price of Rs 8,000. He promised to hand over the bike documents later.

According to the police, Ghodke targeted bikes parked on the road because he realised that they were easy to unlock with a duplicate key.
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The Wanowrie police station sought Ghodke's custody from Yerwada jail on December 28 and recovered 22 bikes allegedly sold to people in places like Mahur, Veer, Kaldari, Aatkarwadi, Rajuri, Risapisa in Purandar Taluka.

Modus operandi
Incidentally, this was not the first time that Ghodke has been arrested. He was in fact, arrested for the same offence twice in the past, but was later released on the bail. He was last arrested by Pargaon-Khandala police station in Satara district.

According to the police, Ghodke, who worked with a city bank as security guard, stole bikes parked in the Bharati Vidyapeeth area. He then posed as a finance company agent and approached proposed clients making them believe that he was in charge of selling seized vehicles from EMI defaulters. He took an initial installment of Rs 7000 to Rs 8,000 and asked his clients to pay the remaining amount after handing the necessary documents, but never returned.

Senior police inspector Shivaji Kanse said, "Ghodke stole vehicles whenever he faced financial crisis."

API Prasad Sanas said, "Ghodke claims to have appeared for police recruitment exams in 2007 and 2008, but he has cases of vehicles theft against him since 2006."