Mumbai: An electric scooter rental company from Andheri was thrown into a panic when GPS trackers of their scooters started going offline one after the other last week. A subsequent search by the company and an investigation by the Juhu police found that a gang of minor boys from the Nehru Nagar slums was stealing the scooter batteries and selling them as scrap, causing thousands of rupees in losses to the company.
According to the Juhu police, Vogo Rentals, based on the Marol Maroshi Road in Andheri, rents out keyless electric scooters in the city, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, which can be used through their app and by scanning a QR code. Vogo lets their customers park the scooters anywhere after use and keeps track of their location via Global Positioning System (GPS) trackers.
On November 16 this year, Vogo found that the GPS trackers of 19 of their scooters had suddenly gone offline. The scooters were last parked on the Gulmohar Road in Vile Parle and when Vogo’s team reached the spot-on November 18, they found that lithium batteries installed under the seats of the vehicles had been ripped out.
“The same was repeated on November 20, when five more scooters were targeted in the same area. Vogo’s legal representative subsequently registered a complaint with us on Thursday and we initiated investigations,” said an officer with the Juhu police station.
The police then obtained Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage of the spot where the scooters were found and subsequently scanned footage from cameras covering the roads leading to the spot. Using the footage and cellular location analysis, the police zeroed in on three accused, all of them teenagers under 18 years of age.
“The accused stayed in the Nehru Nagar slums not far from the scene of the crime and would rip out the batteries at night. These would then be sold to local scrap dealers for around ₹200 each. While the battery itself costs ₹4,000, its theft rendered the scooters inoperable, which led to losses for the company,” said senior police inspector Ajit Vartak, Juhu police station.
The trio have been booked for theft and damage to property under the Indian Penal Code and are currently in the juvenile remand home in Dongri. The police are trying to find out whether there are others involved in the racket and also trying to identify and apprehend the scrap dealers who bought the batteries from the accused.