03 July,2026 09:35 AM IST | Amravati | mid-day online correspondent
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A man with a history of criminal offences has been arrested for allegedly stealing a Rs 2 crore electric bus belonging to the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, an official said.
The "Shivshahi" e-bus was stolen from the Imamwada bus stand in Nagpur on Wednesday night when the vehicle was being charged. After being alerted, the Ganesh Peth police in the city registered a case and relayed the information to other police stations in the region, he said.
Police said the bus was driven to Amravati, over 150 km away.
"A team found the bus a little away from the Rajapeth bus stand in Amravati. Soon, a man was seen entering the bus. He was taken into custody. The man has confessed to stealing as many as 20 buses across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra," said inspector Sandip Chavan from Rajapeth police station.
The man is accused of stealing a bus under Tirumala crime police station limits in Tirupati in 2023-24 and within the jurisdiction of Wazirabad police station in Maharashtra's Nanded in 2026, the official said.
"He appears to be an interstate bus thief. We are now circulating messages across the state and country to see if more vehicles have been stolen in similar circumstances. His modus operandi is to strip the vehicle of spare parts. His motive for stealing e-buses is for the batteries, which cost around Rs 1 crore," the official added.
In another case, two persons were arrested from Rajkot in Gujarat in connection with the theft of a Toyota Fortuner worth Rs 45 lakh, a Mumbai police official said on Thursday.
The vehicle, which was stolen from Khar West, has been recovered following the arrest of Dip Ramnikbhai Agher (28) and Rahul Bharatbhai Ghiyal (29), both residents of Rajkot, he added.
"Agher is a habitual offender with at least five criminal cases registered against him in different states. Ghiyal is also a wanted accused in a case registered at Sarthana police station in Gujarat. The probe into the case began after a Toyota Fortuner used by a showroom in Khar West for customer test drives went missing," he said.
Technical intelligence and CCTV footage helped police obtain an image of the accused, who was subsequently identified as a habitual offender with a criminal record, he said.
Preliminary analysis of CCTV footage indicated that the accused had used a sophisticated key signal cloning device to unlock and steal the SUV without using the original key, he added.
"The vehicle was driven towards Gujarat through the Dahisar toll plaza. The accused replaced the original registration plate with a fake number plate. However, the vehicle was successfully tracked and identified through its unique distinguishing features. The vehicle kept at a spot near Bilimora Road in Chikhli, Navsari district, around 300 kilometres away from Rajkot, was recovered," the official said.
The investigation further revealed that one of the accused possessed advanced technical expertise and used specialised electronic equipment and coding techniques to breach the vehicle's security system.
The other accused allegedly specialised in disabling security features, changing number plates and tampering with chassis identification details to conceal the vehicle's identity, the official said.
(With inputs from PTI)
