Maharashtra: 8 held for cheating automobile buyers

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Police have arrested eight people in Maharashtra's Thane district for allegedly posing as collection agents of an auto finance company and extorting money from people who had taken loan to buy vehicles, an official said on Tuesday.

The accused used to obtain the list of defaulters and target them with the help of fake documents and ID cards. If the victims did not pay them the money, they would seize their vehicles for default of EMIs, the anti-extortion cell's (AEC) senior police inspector S B Shinde said.

In one such case, the accused had last year seized the auto-rickshaw of one of the victims and made a demand of Rs 25,000 from him on February 15, 2022 for returning the vehicle, he said.

The victim filed a complaint with the Vartak Nagar police following which the AEC conducted a probe and arrested eight people on February 26, the official said.

The police also seized 11 motorcycles, two auto-rickshaws, a laptop and 10 mobile phones, all collectively valued at Rs 4.80 lakh, from the accused, he added.

While questioning the accused, it was found that three of them were also involved in a case of murder last year, the police said.

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