Srinagar, Aug 14: At a time when police and paramilitary CRPF have intensified day and night patrol, car and bike lifters have gone active putting a question mark on Aam Aadmi’s security in the summer Capital.
 For the past few days, local newspapers often come with “Bike Stolen” and “Car stolen” notifications while police till now is clueless in most of the thefts.
 In Greater Kashmir’s Friday edition alone, two such notifications have popped up. While one is about a bike stolen from Raj Bagh area, the other pertains to a modified car –Tarzan targeted in Barbar Shah locality.
 Interestingly both the thefts, as per the complainants, occurred in the night hours when police and paramilitary are actively keeping at eye on the Naka points erected on the City roads.
 For the past few days Hamid Majid Gilkar of Barbar Shah is coming up with regular notification: “Car Stolen, Win Rs 5000/.”
 “My Car Tarzen Madlife color Blue bearing registration No JK02F 0183 has been stolen… Anybody having information regarding the above may contact below mentioned address. Persons will be rewarded Rs 5000,” Gilkar, who runs a restaurant in Dalgate area, writes.
 He said his car was stolen from outside his house on the night of August 8. “I think it was stolen close to Sehri time,” the complainant told Greater Kashmir.
 Gilkar said he was fond of his car. The businessman claimed that he had got the cab modified from Chandigarh to exactly resemble the Ajay Devgan starrer Tarzan, the Wonder Car.
 The car, with typical looks, was conspicuous in the Barbarshah area and the locals would call it Tarzan. But still the car lifters managed to flee with the catch even though there’s hardly any other car of the shape in the City. This also means that unlike other car theft cases, this one should be easier for the police to crack.
 “This is almost a unique car and it shouldn’t take much time for police to locate it,” said a retired police official.
 In the other case, a bike bearing No JK01M 4445 was stolen Raj Bagh last month. The bike as per its owner Imtiaz Ahmed Rather is still untraced. Pertinently there have been several cases of vehicular theft in the Raj Bagh area.
 On August 12 a newspaper notification informed that a silver color Alto car JK01K 1864 was stolen near B Ed College Opposite Women’s College on 10th of the month.
 “There were some important documents in it. FIR has been lodged at Kothi Bagh Police Station FIR No 71/2011 Dated: 10/08/2011. Now onwards I am not responsible for any claims with the said stolen car,” its owner Manzoor Ahmad Waidha of Nowshera said.
 Residents of Barzulla said at least two cars including an Alto JK04A 5298 have been stolen from area in the recent past. “Both the cars were stolen from outside Jamia Masjid which is at a stone’s throw distance from the Sadder Police station,” the locals said.
 When contacted City police Chief Syed Ashiq Hussain Bukhari downplayed the matter saying these were minor incidents adding that police was maintaining a tight vigil.
 “At times these elements (thieves) try to make a catch but things are absolutely under control,” the SSP told Greater Kashmir.
 He said the theft cases were being investigated adding the Raj Bagh bike has already been recovered.
 For the rest, he said: “These are just two-three cases…We have been trying to recover the stolen lot. In the past few months many vehicles were recovered. And it will continue,” he added.
 Pertinently the City police has been saying its recovery rate in thefts was above the national average.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 14 Aug 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 14 Aug 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:00:00 IST