Sleuths of the Bhayandar police have arrested two thieves including a woman on alleged charges of trying to steal manhole covers, thus posing a serious threat to the lives of pedestrians.
According to the police, a night patrolling team spotted the suspects and caught them red-handed while they were trying to remove iron made covers of manholes near the fly-over-bridge in Bhayandar (west) during the wee hours.
After spotting the uniformed personnel, both tried to flee but were nabbed after a hot chase. The accused have been identified as Akshay Laxman Waaghe (20) and Nisha Ajay Vyas (21) both residents of a slum cluster near Maheshwari Bhawan in Bhayandar (west).
According to civic officials there are around 14,000 manholes in the twin-city, however, several are either lidless or have broken covers.
Apart from a series of fatalities being reported from across the twin-city all year round, a 37-year-old painter had recently lost his life after slipping into an open manhole in Mira Road.
Meanwhile, a case under section 379 read with section 511 of the Indian Penal Code for attempting to steal has been registered against the duo who are said to be involved in similar thefts. Assistant Sub Inspector RA Dhalpe is conducting investigations to find out the duo’s involvement in other thefts and also the buyer of the stolen lids.
