Cops say man who stole 150 four-wheelers could dismantle them within hours.
Raju Jawalkar’s alleged tryst with the underworld began with joyrides on vehicles he stole. The police claim that in the last 26 years, he stole over 150 four-wheelers, dismantled at least 100 of them and sold their spare parts to crap scavengers from Ahmednagar district to make a fast buck.
Jawalkar was arrested by the police on January 9. He was remanded in police custody till Wednesday, when he will be produced in the court.
Police records say Jawalkar was arrested on several occasions, the previous one by the Pune police crime branch in 2008. He was indicted in 40 cases. Later he was granted bail and continued his activities. Ever since his arrest on January 9, the anti-vehicle theft squad of Pune police claims to have cracked 16 more vehicle theft cases.
Senior police officials said they were impressed by Jawalkar’s knowledge of a four-wheeler. “He works single-handedly and mechanically and dismantles a car in a few hours. This ability of making the booty disappear fast makes it difficult for us to catch him red-handed,” a senior officer said.
However, the police claim they have recovered four stolen tractors from him intact. They say he was arrested before he got the opportunity to dismantle them.
Police records say Jawalkar, son of a farmer owning three acres of land at Khanapur village near Sinhagad, was arrested for the first time by Haveli police in 1984, when he stole a motorbike for a joyride. Gradually he began stealing four-wheelers using duplicate keys, dismantling them and selling the spare parts to scrap scavengers in Ahmednagar district.
The police say Jawalkar was arrested for vehicle thefts in many towns and cities in Pune, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur districts.
According to the police, though he operated alone, Jawalkar set up a parallel base in Ahmednagar. He had links with scrap scavengers there and had taken a room on rent to seek refuge.
Though he stole all types of four-wheelers, he stole more sport utility vehicles (SUVs) that are used in rural parts to ferry passengers illegally. This was most probably because second hand spare parts of SUVs are in demand in rural areas, the police say.
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