Two Delhi Capitals players were arrested after bats and other equipment were discovered in Bengaluru.

Two individuals have been arrested for stealing the bats, pads, gloves, and helmets of the Delhi Capitals franchise of the Indian Premier League on April 15 while the kits were being conveyed from ITC Gardenia to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). Notably, the franchise had filed a complaint about this matter.

According to the report, 16 bats, pads, shoes, thigh pads, and mittens were taken. The bats belonged to Delhi captain David Warner, ace all-rounder Mitchell March, England’s Phil Salt, and India’s U19 sensation Yash Dhull, and it was estimated that the equipment was worth lakhs.

Sudanshu Nayak, 30, an Odia native from Sampangiramanagar, and Cheluvaraj alias Nataraj, 30, a resident of Rajarajeshwari Layout, a neighborhood adjacent to Challaghatta, have been detained. Sudanshu is a messenger child, whereas Cheluvaraj operates a small cargo vehicle. To capture the criminals, Srinivas R. Gowda, deputy commissioner of police (Central), assembled a team under the command of police sub-inspector Bheemsen Ghatage.

On Friday at 8:40 a.m., it is believed that Ananda Agarwala, 72, the manager of Xpress Freight Solutions Private Limited in Mumbai City, reported the incident to the police. The police reportedly apprehended the duo within twenty-four hours of the report being filed and recovered the stolen items from their residences.

According to Agarwal, the larceny occurred as the cricket equipment was being transferred to the KIA that evening. The head of Delhi Capitals logistics, Arvind Negi, had engaged his company to transport the team’s luggage from the ITC Gardenia hotel to KIA. They were instructed to convey the items to the EFS facility in Delhi via Indigo flight.

Agarwala assigned the assignment to his Bengaluru-based management colleague, Dinesh. Dinesh and his associate Sudhanshu traveled to the hotel and Chinnaswamy stadium in two small cargo vans at approximately 10 p.m. They loaded 25 suitcases into Abhishek’s vehicle and 39 luggage into Cheluvaraju’s vehicle.

The theft was discovered on April 16 when the Delhi Capitals players carried their equipment to a practice session in Delhi, according to a senior official. Negi wrote to Agarwala that 17 bats, three thigh pads, seven gloves, two helmets, three batting pads, three pairs of shoes, and two pairs of goggles were AWOL.

“On April 17, Dinesh and other staff members went to Cubbon Park police to file a complaint, but they were told to submit a report with Delhi police because the baggage had already arrived in Delhi. I was required to travel from Mumbai to Bengaluru and approach senior officials, but no FIR was filed. I finally approached the police commissioner, CH Pratap Reddy, and informed him that the larceny had occurred in Bengaluru. Agarwala told Deccan Herald that Reddy instructed the Cubbon Park police to file a First Information Report.

However, the Cubbon Park police have a different story to tell. They claim that Agarwala and Negi first filed a complaint with the Delhi police. Due to their refusal to file the complaint, Agarwala went to them on April 21 to do so.

Police who were investigating the incident detained Sudanshu and Cheluvaraj. Sudanshu admitted to stealing a bat from one of the equipment packages. Cheluvarju admitted to stealing 11 bats, 18 balls, a center guard, a bag, four pairs of hand mitts, two helmets, three pairs of leg pads, and two thigh pads. It is estimated that the recovered articles are worth a total of Rs 16 lakh. They both insisted that they had only taken the items for their own use and had no plans to resell them.