No clues, cops struggle to find arsonists

Police stations, where incidents of bikes being torched have been reported in the past few weeks, are having a hard time investigating the cases.

In most instances, police complain, there are hardly any leads to begin with.

Senior inspector of Trombay police station, Sanjay Khaire said, “While investigating, the most vital point is finding out the motive or who stands to gain from the crime. But, in the recent cases of arson, apart from enmity, we fail to see why anyone would want to burn someone’s vehicle.”

He added, “There is nothing that an accused stands to gain. We suspected that some mischief-maker may have set the vehicles on fire for fun, but with such cases being reported at various places within a span of a month, that does not seem to be the case.”

Apart from the incident at Ghatkopar, where the complainant gave the name of an accused, complainants in other cases have denied any enmity with anyone who would want to get back at them in this fashion.

“As a result the case is open-ended, with no leads and we have to investigate it from all angles, which makes it tougher and time-consuming”, said police inspector U Nikam from Vikhroli police station, where four bikes and a car were set on fire last Thursday.

Cases of torching of bikes have been registered at Wadala Truck Terminus, Antop Hill, Vikhroli, Trombay and Ghatkopar police stations in the past 27 days.