Pune: The Pune rural police have arrested Nadim Dawood Shaikh (32) of Thad in Buldhana district on the charge of stealing three cars worth Rs11.4 lakh from Shirur and Sangamner in the last few days. "Shaikh purchased an on-board diagnostics (OBD) device from Punjab a few months ago for the purpose of stealing cars," said Pankaj Deshmukh, superintendent of Pune rural police.
An OBD device disengages the car's safety and locking mechanism once the vehicle is opened with a duplicate key. In cars with remote keys, the device can open them without any keys. The device's cable is plugged into the car's socket beneath the steering wheel.
The vehicle can then be started with the duplicate key or by pressing the start button. "We have seized the OBD device," Deshmukh said. The police have seized the three stolen cars from Shaikh's possession.
"We found him driving a stolen car and nabbed him," the officer said. "Shaikh was arrested from Deulgaon Raja after tracking CCTV footage of different spots on the Pune-Ahmednagar and Ahmednagar-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar highway," he said. Senior inspector Avinash Shilimkar, sub-inspector Eknath Patil, constables Tushar Pandare, Janardhan Shelke, Atul Dere, and Mangesh Thigle studied his movement between the cities and identified him.
"He has been previously arrested in theft cases and is out on bail. We have identified his three accomplices. The search for them is on," Shilimkar said.
Last year, the police had arrested Shaikh and recovered four .