A newly married man was arrested along with five others at Manpada in Thane district for allegedly stealing motorcycles so that he could fund the expenses for taking his wife for outings. “We recovered some of the stolen vehicles collectively worth over Rs 5 lakh,” a police officer said on Thursday. The accused had stolen at least 17 motorcycles, he said. “In the recent past, there were several complaints of motorcycle thefts in and around Manpada, following which the police had formed special teams to trace the accused,” DCP (Zone III), Kalyan, S B Gunjal, said.

“The team worked on several inputs, including the CCTV footage and also enquired with local scrap dealers and garages. Police kept a watch on the suspects. During the probe, one Deepak Salgare of Ambarnath was detained. During interrogation, he admitted that he was involved in the theft of motorcycles in Manpada, Kolsewadi, Vitthalwadi, Ambernath, Narpoli, Central and Bazarpeth police station limits,” he said.