Mumbai:
An aspiring model desperately in need of money to fund his modelling portfolio rode his old bike to a mall, and stole a brand new bike from the parking lot.
However, his luck ran out, and the security guards nabbed him when he returned to the parking lot to pick up his old bike. The guards handed him over to the police, following which he was arrested by the Bangur Nagar police.
The accused, Kalpam Kumar Pachori, 22, rode his own bike to Inorbit Mall in Malad (W) on November 30.
After parking his old bike next to the latest model bike he intended to steal from the parking lot, he tried to start it with his set of keys. After failing to start the bike, he disconnected the ignition switch, hot-wired the connecting wires and started the bike.
But as soon as he tried to flee from the spot with the stolen Pulsar 220 cc, the bike owner, who was with his servant, spotted Pachori on his bike and raised an alarm. But by that time Pachori had neared the exit gate and managed to escape. The quick thinking servant then got on his bike, which was also parked at the mall, and gave chase.
Realising that the duo were tailing him and they would soon catch up with him, Pachori abandoned the stolen bike at Chincholi Bunder traffic signal and fled.
After 15 minutes, Pachori returned to the mall to collect his parked bike, thinking that no one would recognise him, but parking guards identified and caught him.
R Bagul, senior inspector at Bangur Nagar police station, said, "We have registered the offence and the accused has been arrested. The matter is under investigation."