Biker boys zoom off with Rs12.5 lakh in a day in Ahmedabad

The menace of biker thieves in the city is spreading in all directions, as the miscreants get bolder by the day. In four separate incidents on Friday afternoon, including three loots near banks and one at the bustling Relief Road, Amdavadis lost over Rs12.5 lakh in loots orchestrated by bikers.

The first of these incidents took place outside Sarovar Complex on CG road. Jayanti Chunara, a resident of Makarba, works as a clerk with Auto Rider Travels, which has its office in the complex.

On Friday, Chunara was asked to go to Kotak Bank with fellow employee, Gopal Gajjar. After withdrawing Rs49,500 from the bank, Gajjar put the cash in a bag and gave it to Chunara as they returned to their office on his motorcycle.

Just as they were about to reach, two bikers astride a Pulsar bike snatched away the bag from Chunara. The clerk tried to chase the bikers, but to no avail. In his complaint to Navrangpura police, Chunara claimed that while the rider was wearing a helmet, his accomplice had covered his face with a cloth, and could not be identified.

In another incident, an unidentified man distracted a car driver and made away with a bag containing cash and ATM cards. At 12:30 pm, Ramesh Thakkar, a resident of Thane in Mumbai, left his Relief road office and asked his car driver Sopan Bhagwat to take him to Mithakhali. As he sat in the car, Thakkar noticed one of his bags was missing.

The bag had Rs50,000 in cash and eight ATM cards in it. Later, Bhagwat recalled that someone had asked him to check for a punctured tyre on the car. While the driver was busy checking for the same, the man had fled with the bag. According to Thakkar’s complaint to Navrangpura police, the thief even withdrew Rs22,000 from one of his ATM cards after the theft.

Later in the afternoon, two bikers struck outside Bhagyodaya Co-Op Bank near Shyamal crossroads and snatched away a bag containing Rs5 lakh from export company manager, Dilip Dave, who had gone there to deposit the money.

Dave reached the bank at 1:45 pm in a BMW car with another executive, Vikas Shah. Two bikers, wearing helmets, zoomed in on a Pulsar bike and snatched the bag from Dave’s hands. Dave and Shah tried to chase them in the car, but lost sight of them shortly. KD Vora, a senior citizen passing by, also tried to chase them on his Splendor bike, but could not keep up with the speeding thieves.

“They seemed to be 35-40 years of age. The pillion even covered the bike’s number plate with his legs,” said Vora. “Even the bank’s CCTV footage only shows them up to the neck – their faces were not captured,” said senior PI of Satellite, DI Sisodiya.

In the fourth incident, an office boy was looted by two bikers
outside his office near Diwan Ballubhai School, Kankaria. In his complaint to Kagdapith police, Manish Khatri alleged that the duo, astride a Pulsar bike, made away with Rs6.5 lakh at around 2:45 pm.

Khatri had withdrawn the cash from a bank, was taking it out from the storage compartment after reaching the parking of his office. The men wearing helmets snatched the bag from him and sped off. Kagdapith police officials suspect the involvement of a gang from Kubernagar and Sardarnagar area.