Delhi: MBBS dropout held for stealing high-end bikes to repay student loan
Delhi Police on Saturday arrested a 29-year-old MBBS dropout for allegedly stealing high-end bikes and selling them on popular e-commerce websites in a bid to repay his student loan.
Delhi Police on Saturday arrested a 29-year-old MBBS dropout for allegedly stealing high-end bikes and selling them on popular e-commerce websites in a bid to repay his student loan.
The accused, Sarfaraz Ahmed, had taken a loan of Rs 17 lakh a few years back to study medicine in Warsaw, Poland.
Ahmed has been sent to three-day police custody by a local court after an FIR on charges of forgery and theft was registered against him.
According to police, he was operating under several fake names in the capital for the past two-and-a-half years and had sold more than 60 motorcycles through classified advertising platforms for used goods.
He was in the process of purportedly selling 18 stolen motorcycles when a team of southwest Delhi Police, led by ACP Rajender Singh, arrested him.
“Eighteen stolen motorcycles and scooters were recovered from a godown in Bindapur that Ahmed had hired for `2,000 per month. We have cracked 25 vehicle theft cases committed by him,” said Surender Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (southwest).
Several fake number plates, forged registration certificates (RCs) and pre-activated SIM cards were seized from him, he added.
Ahmed’s arrest, the DCP said, was made after probe in recent theft cases pointed at involvement of some well-educated men.
“We caught Ahmed from Uttam Nagar following information that a youth involved in such crimes will arrive on a stolen bike. Initially, he tried to mislead with his fluent English and confident attitude. But after the recovery of two fake driving licences and two fake RCs on the spot, he broke down,” said Kumar.
Ahmed and his wife, both natives of Raipur in Chhattisgarh, met during the course of their stay in Poland and got married in 2013. While the wife managed to complete her course, Ahmed dropped out in the final year due to financial difficulties.
“They returned to India together in 2014 but failed to clear the test conducted by the Medical Council of India to qualify as registered medical practitioners. While the wife started working with an AIIMS doctor on a freelance basis, Ahmed remained unemployed,” said an investigator.
With mounting loan and no source of income in sight, Ahmed took to stealing motorcycles. “He used to recce various areas across Delhi in his car and spot high-speed bikes parked on streets in isolated areas. Using a master key or breaking the lock, he would steal the bike and take it to the rented godown where he replaced the number plate with a fake one,” the officer said.
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To sell the stolen bikes on the internet, Ahmed not just prepared their fake documents but also fake accounts on the portals using mobile numbers obtained on the basis of forged documents. “As soon as a bike was sold, Ahmed would delete the account and destroy the SIM card. He used a new account and mobile number for each attempt,” said the officer.