Two held for setting two-wheelers on fire

Two men have been arrested for allegedly setting on fire nine two-wheelers at a locality in the city, police said on Friday.

According to police, the incident, which took place in the wee hours of Thursday near Kaushalya Hospital in Naupada area, was a fallout of personal enmity.

One of the accused wanted to settle an old score with a man, who had lodged a complaint against him. But interestingly, the complainant's two-wheeler escaped without any damage, while that of the accused gutted in the blaze, they said.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, DCP (Zone I) D S Swamy said the accused were arrested within 12 hours of the crime.

"The duo, identified as Vijay Joshi (22) and Aniket Jadhav (19), came to the locality in the small hours on Thursday and set ablaze a two-wheeler parked on the roadside, due to which other vehicles also caught fire" he said.

"After the incident, police formed teams to trace the accused and went through the CCTV footage from the locality. Based on the footage, which showed the duo arriving at the spot on their two-wheeler, they were later tracked down," he said.

According to police, a man from the locality had earlier lodged a complaint against Joshi, due to which some local residents had started calling him 'chor' (thief). Since he was upset with that, Joshi wanted to teach the complainant a lesson.

"After consuming liquor at Yeoor, Joshi and Jadhav came near Kaushalya Hospital and set a two-wheeler on fire thinking it belonged to the complainant. But some other vehicles parked alongside also caught fire. Interestingly, the vehicle of their target escaped without any damage, whereas Joshi's own brand new motorcycle was gutted in the blaze," police said.

The two-wheeler of the accused was yet to get a registration number, the police said.

The duo has been booked under IPC sections 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and others.