Bike thief gets no relief from court, Judge dismisses bail plea

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 10

The Additional Sessions Judge, Sanjiv Joshi, has rejected the bail application of Baljinder Singh (22), who was arrested by the Chandigarh Police on the charge of stealing two-wheelers, including Bullet motorcycles.

Pronouncing the order, the Court said, “The applicant is implicated in numerous cases of similar crimes in Punjab. The contention of public prosecutor that accused is professional thief cannot be brushed aside. Offences alleged against the accused are serious and it seems that petitioner is a habitual offender. In view of this, the court finds no ground to grant regular bail to the applicant-accused.”

The police arrested six persons, including Baljinder, with stolen motorcycles on January 20, 2020. An FIR was registered at the Sector 39 police station, Chandigarh, in this connection. Baljinder’s counsel said, “No useful purpose shall be served by detaining the accused behind the bars as conclusion of trial will take sufficient time due to the Covid-19 conditions. Besides, he has already been bailed out in all cases pending against him in Punjab.”

Contesting the arguments, the public prosecutor contended that the police recovered 28 Bullet motorcycles from the petitioner and co-accused. Further, the petitioner himself disclosed about seven Bullet motorcycles stolen by him from different places, which were recovered by the police, he added.

“The petitioner happens to be a professional thief and has been implicated in numerous cases in Punjab. Therefore, he is not entitled to bail,” he said.

After hearing the rival’s contentions, the court found no merits in the application. “At this stage, it cannot possibly be said that case registered against the applicant-accused is false. Hence, in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case, this court finds no ground to grant regular bail to the applicant-accused,” the Judge said.

34 two-wheelers recovered 

The arrest of seven members of the gang led to the recovery of 34 two-wheelers, including 13 Bullet motorcycles. The police claimed that the suspects were arrested when they were planning to rob a petrol station in Sector 39 on January 20. They were riding six stolen Bullet motorcycles. The suspects stole two-wheelers and sold these at throwaway prices in Patiala, Khanna, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib and Mohali. The police claimed that the gang had stolen around 70 two-wheelers of which almost half were sold to gullible people.