Chandigarh: Bicycle thief lands in police net

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 11

Four days after a 27-year-old bicycle thief escaped from the police lock-up, the police arrested him today. The accused, Divesh Gupta (27), was nabbed by a team of the Palsora police post, led by SI (SI) Satnam Singh.

The police said the accused, after escaping from the Sector 39 police station, went to Ropar and then to Amritsar. During the run, he stayed in gurdwaras. Sources said Divesh did not have a mobile phone due which the police couldn’t track his movement. The police team conducted raids in parts of Himachal Pradesh (HP) and Punjab and finally nabbed him at Sector 56.

Divesh, a native of Shimla, had left his parental home about five years ago and was living at a PG in Balongi with his wife and daughter. He returned back to the city today to meet his wife and a three-year-old daughter.

“He had planned to take his wife and daughter along. However, before he could execute his plan, our team nabbed him,” said a police official. Divesh was earlier arrested on December 5 by a team of the Palsora police post for stealing high-end bicycles. A total of 13 bicycles were recovered from his possession.

He was put in a lock-up of the Sector 39 police station after the court granted his one-day police remand. During the night of December 6, he broke two rusted iron grills of the lock-up and escaped.

The accused’s father works in Solan while his mother is a housemaker. He has three siblings, including two brothers and a sister. Among the brothers, one is a teacher and the other a software engineer.

Second escape in less than two months

Divesh was earlier arrested by the Mohali police in a case of theft. However, he escaped from the Mataur police station.