Hyderabad: In a significant crackdown on automobile theft, Afzalgunj police have arrested a serial offender, Kurva Naresh (alias Potti Naresh), responsible for stealing five motorcycles across Hyderabad and Mahabubnagar districts. The operation culminated in the recovery of all five stolen bikes, including a Hero Passion Plus reported missing from the Osmania General Hospital parking lot.

The theft came to light after an 18-year-old student, Manga Manideep, complained on November 19 that his bike had been stolen on November 12 while he was attending to his hospitalised grandfather. Acting swiftly, the Afzalgunj Crime Team, under the leadership of SHO Sri N Ravi and Detective Inspector B. Ravi Kiran, apprehended Naresh on December 1. During interrogation, Naresh confessed to multiple thefts, employing duplicate keys to disable locks, before swiftly fleeing the scene.

The police recovered five bikes linked to five separate cases registered at the Afzalgunj and Mahabubnagar police stations, exposing a pattern of thefts in busy public areas.