Bhubaneswar: Chandaka police on Sunday arrested a 19-year-old youth for allegedly stealing a car by using a rented vehicle to tow it away, police said.
The accused has been identified as Mandeep Choudhury, a resident of Turang area in Anugola district. Police said Choudhury was released from jail only last month after being arrested in connection with another vehicle theft case.
According to police, a case was registered on August 12 after car owner Sudarsan Nayak reported that his vehicle had been stolen while it was parked outside his father-in-law’s house at Andharua the previous night.
The stolen car was found abandoned a few hours later on a deserted stretch around 3 km from the spot where it had been parked.
During the investigation, police examined CCTV footage and found that a blue car had been used to tow away the stolen vehicle. The registration number of the blue car had been covered with black tape, apparently to avoid detection.
“Since it was raining that night, we suspected that the driver might have taken the car to a washing centre to clean off the mud. After checking several washing centres, we got leads about the vehicle used in the crime and traced its owner,” said ACP (Zone VI) Manas Ranjan Pradhan.
The owner of the blue car told police that the vehicle had been given to a rental service in Khandagiri. Investigators subsequently traced the vehicle to Choudhury and arrested him.
Police said Choudhury abandoned the stolen car after it developed mechanical problems.
“During the investigation, we found that he had earlier been involved in four similar cases in Bhubaneswar and had been arrested in those cases,” Pradhan said.
Further investigation is underway to ascertain whether Choudhury was involved in other vehicle thefts in the city, police said.
