Son of a notorious offender and three others held for bike thefts

Four boys, all aged around 14 years, including the son of an offender who is serving time in prison under the PD act, were apprehended by the South Zone Taskforce police in the city. Five bikes and two laptops all worth Rs 3 lakh was recovered from them.

The son of the detainee had been caught previously in pickpocketing cases and he had trained the other boys in committing thefts, found police. All the boys have run away from their homes and are residing on the footpaths.

The boys, all from different parts of the old city, became friends a year ago. They struggled with their expenses as they were away from home and had no earnings. To cope with their expenditure they started committing theft of money and cell phones from people who would sleep on the footpath and also from drunkards who would fall asleep on the roadside. Gradually, they also developed a passion for riding bikes. They started committing theft of bikes using duplicate keys and began enjoying the stolen motorcycles by removing the number plates.

To make up for fuel expenses of the stolen bikes, they targeted shops with tin roofs to commit theft. The group moved in the areas of the old city and selected such shops. The two younger boys who were short in height and physically weak would climb over the roofs of the shops and remove the tin sheets, then climb down into the shop and committed theft of cash, while the two older boys who are physically strong would keep watch outside the shop.

So far the four boys have stolen five bikes in different parts of the city and also committed burglaries at a wine shop and a bakery at Mailardevpally. They committed all seven offences in a span of 30 days. Apart from the above, they have also committed several offences on the roadside which are unreported. These details are also being investigated.