A seized vehicle at Saheed Nagar police station. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 16: A tip-off from a youth arrested last week led the police to seize six vehicles today.

The mastermind of the gang, Manas Mangaraj, 26, was arrested a week ago in connection with a motorcycle theft case.

Sources said Mangaraj, a resident of Bhubaneswar, gave the information about the stolen vehicles, which he had disposed of in neighbouring states of Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. The police have also sent a team to Bengal to recover more vehicles that were lifted by the gang.

The police said Manas and his associates were involved in a number of vehicle thefts in the city.

“The gang members used to target vehicles parked at parking lots in the city, especially at railway stations and malls. They used to break the window of the vehicle and run away with the vehicle by using a master key,” said a senior police official.

The police also said that they had started a manhunt to nab other members of the gang.

“They used to sell the vehicles at half of the original price. The gang is also involved in several four-wheeler lifting cases in Cuttack and other districts of the state as well,” said another senior police official.

In May last year, the police had busted a gang, which was involved in a number of car thefts in the city.

The gang was led by a woman called Rajlaxmi Swain, 22, who used to introduce herself as a software professional working at the Fortune Tower in Bhubaneswar where many government and corporate offices are located.