Police nabs three who duped 50 car owners

Mumbai: The crime branch officers at Thane nabbed a gang of three who had duped several car owners by promising to lease out their cars to hotels but instead took their vehicles after they deposited Rs 15,000 each. The accused had intended to sell off the cars and had signed fake contracts with their owners, according to the police.

The officials have recovered 41 cars worth Rs 4 crore from them and said that the accused had made fake contract agreements with the car owners in last couple of years. The trio, Anurag Tiwari (40), Rohit Gharat (29) and Rajendra Yadav (35), who were apprehended from the Vasant Vihar junction by a team of crime branch headed by inspector Ravindra Doiphode.

Officials said that the accused were in the process of duping another person by taking his Ertiga car and asking him to sign a fake contract. At least 50 people from Thane, Kalyan, Mira Road, Bhayandar and other areas were duped in the process, officials said. “The accused were famous owing to word of mouth and had been promising handsome returns to the owner from the star hotels for using their vehicles.

The accused would never rent the vehicles to the hotel and we suspect that there were plans of selling the cars by dismantling the parts to avoid getting nabbed,” said a Thane crime branch officer. The accused are residents of Mumbra and Diva and they had been parking the vehicles in the vicinity of their residences after taking their custody, officials
said.