Two sedans suffer four-wheel loss in Salt Lake mystery theft

By: Mayukh Sengupta
KOLKATA: Miscreants decamped with two sets of wheels each of two sedans and placed small piles of bricks so that the vehicles did not topple over.
The owners, residents of AE Block in Salt Lake, were stumped to see their vehicles in that state when they stepped out of their houses on Thursday morning. The block— adjoining the footbridge that connects Salt Lake with VIP Road—allows an easy getaway, bypassing check-posts at the multiple entry points to Salt Lake. But police believe the thieves had used a vehicle to ferry the stolen wheels. Each alloy wheel, along with tyre, costs around Rs 16,000-Rs 18,000.

Around 6am, one of the vehicles’ owner, Gaurav Datta, was about to step into his car to drive to the gym, when he saw the right front and rear wheels missing. He rushed to the other side and was relieved to see the wheels along the kerb were at least still in place. “Losing two wheels is better than four. I guess those who stole the wheels did not have enough space on the other side to pry open the wheels. The thieves were prepared and had brought a jack to lift the car and a wrench to open the nuts so that the wheels could be removed. They had even brought bricks to place the car on before removing the jack. They took away even the nuts,” said Datta.
What he saw next was even more curious. The wheels of another sedan parked in front of his car, also a Honda City, were missing as well. The car belonged to his neighbour, Anand Todi. They had both bought the cars around the same time a year-and-a-half ago. Little did they realise they would both be victims of a bizarre theft the same day. “I woke up around 8am to learn about the wheels of my car and that of my neighbour had been stolen at night. In the 20 years that I have been living in this block, this is the first time I have heard of theft here,” said Todi, director in a real estate firm.
Around 10.30 the previous night, Todi had returned home in the very car. Though the family has three other cars, including another Honda city, the one the wheels of which had been stolen was his favourite. Todi later called the milkman and car washer who came in around dawn and learned that they, too, had spotted the wheels missing. “They had thought the car had suffered a breakdown and was being repaired,” said Todi.
Cops from Bidhannagar North police station arrived promptly. With no CCTV cameras being installed in the lane, where the two houses are located, they are trying to check the footage from cameras fixed in adjoining lanes and blocks to identify unfamiliar vehicles that may have entered and left AE Block at night. “We are also checking if someone has recently joined a tyre retailer in the belt or if a car had gone out from a workshop during the night,” an investigator said. A single FIR has been drawn up, citing the car numbers and addresses of the two owners. The Todis, meanwhile, have decided to set up CCTV cameras outside.
Car wheel theft, though uncommon, is not unprecedented in the township. Last year, wheels of a car parked in CB Block had been stolen. Then, the left front and rear wheels of a Santro had been stolen. The incident had been reported to Bidhannagar North police station. Similar incidents had been reported at Bidhannagar East police station in 2013. Prior to that, thefts of car stereo after breaking the window glass was common in Salt Lake.