Thane police seize 71 cars from bogus rental racket

Thane police seized 71 cars worth Rs 6.63 crore on Saturday night. The accused had lured the victims by offering them fake contracts of five star hotels across Mumbai and Thane for renting cars to five-star hotel tourists.

According to Abhishek Trimukhe, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Thane (crime), “15 Maruti Swift Dzire ,14 Hyundai Cent ,12 Maruti Ertiga, 10 Toyota Etios, 5 Mahindra TUV 300, two Maruti Ciaz, three Toyota Innova, two Honda Amaze, two Renault Lodgy, two Chevrolet Enjoy a Mahindra Xylo, a Hyundai Creta, a BMW 320 D and a Tata Zest were seized.”

On April 13, Thane crime branch arrested three accused — Anurag Ravindranath Tiwari (40), Rohit Vishnu Gharat (29) and Rajendra Rammurat Yadav (35) — for duping 41 car owners of Rs 4 crore. The accused used to con the victims by promising them contracts for renting cars to Grand Hyatt hotel at Santacruz (W). The accused had taken deposits of Rs 15,000 each from the victims and had issued fake contracts with fake seal of the fivestar hotel for the renting of vehicles.

The gang was operating for the past six months. Tiwari, Gharat and Yadav have been arrested for

Thane crime branch has arrested three accused for duping 41 car owners of Rs 4 crore

cheating, forgery, forgery for purpose of cheating, using a forged document as genuine, making or possessing counterfeit seal, criminal breach of trust and common intention of the Indian Penal Code. On February 11 this year, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered by Shrikant Nagendra Roy (33), a driver, one of the victims.

Tiwari, Gharat and Yadav had promised the driver Roy that he would offer him commission if he would give Maruti Ertiga car that belonged to the owner. He asked Roy to deposit Rs 15,000. Subsequently, Gharat issued a fake contract along with fake seal of Grand Hyatt hotel. Tiwari, Gharat and Yadav would give the car on rental basis to other parties through similar schemes and would make profits.