Cuttack: Police busted a bike-lifting racket, which used the stolen vehicles to transport liquor, with the arrest of one person from Nuagarh.

While investigating a complaint lodged at Sadar police station about theft of a motorcycle, the police picked up a suspect, Ajit Singh alias Jharia, 35, and found that he had stolen several motorcycles.

"We arrested Singh on Friday on bike-lifting charges after it was ascertained during interrogation that he had committed a series of motorcycle thefts from various places of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar," Sadar police station inspector-in-charge Debadatta Kar said.

"But, investigation for his criminal antecedents revealed that Singh had been involved in as many as 16 excise related offences involving illegal liquor," Kar said.

Kar said Singh had further confessed that he used the stolen two-wheelers for carrying illegal liquor and later disposed of them. Six such two-wheelers were found in his house for disposal.

During search of his house, the six stolen two-wheelers were seized. Efforts are on to nab his other possible associates.

On November 5, Choudwar police busted a gang of bike-lifters and arrested two persons from areas in Jagatpur police limits.

The police said they were lifting motorcycles from Choudwar, Ragunathpur, Athagarh and other areas in Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada districts.

They had also stolen motorcycles from areas under Jagatpur, Badambadi, Cantonment Road and CDA Phase II police stations in the city.