PUNE: A local crime branch has arrested Shahnoor Shaikh (34) and his two accomplices Samir Sayyad (28) and Akash Bhandalkar (26) both from the Parner taluka in Ahmednagar district for stealing silencers of Maruti Suzuki Eeco.
The police have also detected 14 cases of silencer thefts registered with the Ranjagaon, Shikrapur and Shirur police stations.
According to the police, about six months ago, a Maruti Eeco van arrived at Shaikh's garage in Parner after its silencer went missing. Though Shaikh fixed the vehicle, it gave him an idea to earn more money by stealing Maruti Eeco van silencers when he found out why they were in demand.
Assistant inspector Sachin Kale of the local crime branch said the silencer of the Maruti Suzuki Eeco is comparatively easier to remove than any other vehicle. "It takes hardly a few minutes to remove it. Being a mechanic, Shaikh and his accomplices could easily remove it," said Kale.
Kale said Shaikh and his accomplices were stealing the silencers for the catalytic converters, which are a vital part of the exhaust system. Silencers of Maruti Suzuki Eeco have platinum-palladium in their catalytic converters. Shaikh and his aides used to remove the platinum-palladium metal from the catalytic converters, which has a demand in the grey market. "Shaikh used to sell the metal to a Pune-based scrap dealer, who used to pay him Rs15,000 for the metal," Kale said. The officer said a new Maruti Eeco van silencer costs Rs70,000.
Shaikh, along with his two accomplices, has stolen over 20 silencers of such vans over the last six months from the villages along the Pune-Ahmednagar highway between Ranjangaon and Shirur.
