New Town food delivery men lose e-bikes to Bhangar bicycle thieves
Times of India | 16 February 2024
Kolkata: When food delivery app companies began reporting that multiple electric cycles were getting stolen frequently from east Kolkata and New Town, officers from both Kolkata Police and Bidhannagar Police were left surprised.
A quick investigation revealed a pattern — each of these cycles were picked up from near the NKDA bus stand area and all seemed to be heading towards the Rajarhat side.The cost of each cycle is above Rs 33,000.
It was under these circumstances that one Selim Yousuf, a delivery boy, reported the theft of his electric cycle between 2.30 pm and 3 pm on Feb 11 at New Town PS that decided to seek help from all nearby police stations.
New Town police decided to involve their counterparts in Bhangar division that had come under KP barely a month ago. “This one month has seen hectic activity on ground — we had put up CCTV cameras at important intersections, held village level meetings to rope in the locals as our eyes and ears and sent a message that we meant business following some quick arrests of criminals by the anti-rowdy section of detective department,” said a senior officer from Bhangar division.
The first lead was a technical one, thanks to the CCTVs that have been very recently put up by KP under Uttar Kashipur PS. “Our sources reacted and the cycle was recovered in next couple of hours,” recalled the investigating officer.
“Within hours of the theft, the Uttar Kashipur police called us to inform that the cycle has been recovered. On Feb 12, we went to the police station where the OC and additional OC were waiting for us. They checked the documents and soon returned the cycle to us,” said Souptick Mukherjee, an employee of the firm that had rented out the electric cycles. He also shared the details of the police probe on his Facebook account.
Kolkata Police then handed over the recovered cycle to the rightful owners. “We have come to know of two more similar thefts. While detentions have been carried out, we will announce the arrests once the entire operation gets over,” said an officer.
DC (Bhangar) Saikat Ghosh said that this case was an important breakthrough. It’s important as a large number of Bhangar residents depend on cycles. Also, claimed sources, with New Town now recognized as the hub of alternative modes of transport, supporting the electric cycle initiative was important.
“The sharing of information helped us come to the rescue of our fellow cops. This will help us develop a better understanding with Bidhannagar Police before the Lok Sabha elections,” said a joint CP at Lalbazar.
In 2022, New Town had been adjudged as the city with best non-motorised transport system for its cycle infrastructure at the 15th Urban Mobility India conference and expo that was organised by the Ministry of housing and urban affairs in Kochi.
Also in 2021, New Town was declared as one of the 11 Stage-1 winner cities of the Cycle 4 Change Challenge that was also organised by the ministry. NKDA and West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) have been working jointly to develop the bicycle infrastructure in New Town.
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