Bhubaneswar: Thieves in the state capital seem to have taken a liking to the Bolero SUV. Police are flummoxed because they have not been able to crack the theft of even one out of the six such vehicles stolen from the city in the last one month.
Here are the cases: Kailash Chandra Nanda, a resident of Oscar City in Laxmisagar, lodged a complaint on March 3 for the theft of his Bolero from outside his house. Nursingha Narayan Jena of Saheed Nagar too lodged a police complaint regarding theft of his SUV on March 27. Laxmipriya Mallick of GGP Colony lodged a complaint with Laxmisagar police alleging theft of her Bolero while her vehicle was parked near Chaturbhuja Cottage here and a case was registered on April 2. Nayapalli police had also registered two cases in connection with the thefts of two Bolero vehicles earlier. The SUV of Debiprasad Behera of Rental Colony and a resident of IRC Village Rachendra Mohapatra’s similar model vehicle were stolen earlier this month, reported The New Indian Express (TNIE).
According to police, thieves are mostly targeting vehicles parked on the roadside. “Special Squad and other police officers have been entrusted to investigate the car lifting racket,” Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash told TNIE.
Police said they are examining the stolen Boleros models to establish a pattern. They are yet to confirm whether any inter-state gang or miscreants from Odisha are behind the thefts. The possibility of anti-socials coming from neighbouring states and committing such crimes has also not been ruled out.
“Of the thefts reported in the last one month, the modus operandi in three of them appears to be similar. Initial investigation suggests that the miscreants are targeting Bolero vehicles manufactured between 2010 and 2017 as they are easier to open with duplicate keys,” a police officer told TNIE.
What is adding to the woes of the police is that most of the CCTV cameras installed at the exit points of the city by Bhubaneswar Smart City Ltd are still not operational. However, they are examining the CCTV footage at the toll gates to verify the routes the thieves used to flee. CCTV footage of Manguli, Pipili and Malipada toll gates have already been examined, but no clue has been found. Police said of 36 stolen vehicles in 2020, 18 were recovered, the report further added.
