Thieves lifting bikes in Hubballi-Dharwad for a joyride?

Hubballi: Police patrol parties in the twin cities are faced with a strange trend: motorbikes, evidently stolen, are cropping up on road sides with empty fuel tanks but little else out of order. Spare parts are intact and number plates not tampered with either.
“We regularly nab bike lifters but they usually sell the vehicles soon after the theft or dismantle them and sell the parts,” said an officer. “But now, the thieves are apparently taking the bikes for a joyride and abandoning them then and there once the fuel runs out.”
Old Hubballi police said they find four or five abandoned vehicles every month while patrolling, especially near Gabbur Cross and towards Karwar road bridge. “Our policemen bring these vehicles to the station and proper documentation is done and FIR is filed. The owner will have to get the vehicle released through court orders,” said an Old Hubballi station officer. Bike owners, however, register complaints only as a last resort, say cops.
In 2018, 177 cases of bike theft were registered while in 2019, 127 cases were registered. Police commissioner R Dileep said there has been a dip in bike thefts and cops were doing their best to crack down on the offenders. “Bikes are being abandoned and it is suspected that thieves are lifting the vehicles just to get a joyride out of them but we need to examine all the available data to verify this. I have asked officers to gather details of all the bikes found; only then can we determine the reasons,” he said.
Patrol teams said they often received calls from locals drawing attention to bikes parked on the roadsides for days together. Once a bike is retrieved, cops do try to share information with other police stations to verify if it has been reported stolen.
APMC/Navanagar police said they too found several abandoned bikes in their station limits. “We found that these bike lifters were not looking to make money from the theft since the parts are all intact. We suspect they were just taking the bike for a spin,” an officer said.
Suburban police said they had recently arrested a habitual offender, Psycho Manju alias Manjunath of Vaddar Oni, who stole one bike after the other and abandoned them once the petrol ran out. “We believe a similar trend is picking up. Perhaps, youngsters are doing it for the thrill,” an officer said.
Commissioner Dileep said vehicle owners must be extra careful. “I request the bike riders to properly lock their vehicles while parking, use additional locks apart from the handle lock. They should use designated parking lots. In case of theft, they must report it immediately to the nearest station. If police do not register a case, they can contact me directly,” he said.
The police commissioner said they have no data on how many bikes were traced and how many have been handed over to owners. Once the FIR is registered, the owner has to get the vehicle through a court order, said an officer.
In majority of the cases, owners search for the bikes for months and approach police as a last resort. Police register a case after waiting for a month or two.