Sleuths of the Vikhroli police station succeeded in solving the mystery behind the growing number of open manholes in its jurisdiction with the arrest of two drug addicts yesterday, who used to steal the covers and cart them away in a tempo to be sold as scrap.

Heavyweight theft: The accused used to steal manhole covers and even massive iron plates — some as heavy as 400 kilograms — strong enough to bear the weight of heavy vehicles. Representation pic