Think twice before renting out your car to private agencies

If you own a car, but do not have much use of it, think twice before renting out it to some private agencies.

In less than two months, the Navi Mumbai police have recovered over 70 such cars and arrested eleven members of two different cars who would cheat the owners by taking such cars on rent.

In several cases, the culprits also sold the cars, by making bogus documents and changing the registration numbers, the police said.

In the latest incident, the Kamothe police have arrested four members of a gang and have seized 35 cars from their possession.

According to the police, the gang would take vehicles from the owners promising a monthly rent of Rs 25,000-30,000. They would then make duplicate documents of the cars such as RC books, insurance policies and send those to used cars’ market.

“They would tell the prospective customers that they need cash urgently and are hence selling the cars at a cheaper rate. In a recent case, they cheated a Santacruz resident of Rs2 lakh by showing one such car,” said Ashok Naik, senior police inspector of Kamothe police station.

Acting on a tip-off, the police arrested the main accused Vicky Gaikward, 25, a resident of Kamothe. Vishwash Kadam, 23, a resident of Kamothe, Pravin Khadakvan, 35, a resident of Khanda Colony, and Mausam Patil, 33, a resident of Bhiwandi, were arrested later. Three other gang members are still at large.

The police have booked them under sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In the last week of June the Rabale MIDC police arrested seven people who would cheat car owners using the same modus operandi.

“When the vehicles owners contacted them for the rents, they would threaten them with dire consequences. They also refused to return the vehicles,” said Babasaheb Tute, police inspector from Rabale MIDC police station.

Many other people of this gang are still at large and the police are now searching for them.