Vehicle theft racket: Thane police arrest four, recover 47 stolen cars

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Thane police has arrested four members of a gang involved in stealing vehicles and selling them after tampering with documents, an official said on Monday.

MBVV Police Commissioner Madhukar Pandey told newswire PTI that the accused were arrested from different parts of the state in the last two days, and 47 stolen vehicles worth more than Rs 7.32 crore were recovered.

The racket came to light when the police were probing into cases of vehicle theft registered at Kashimira and Valiv police stations in February and June 2021, he said.

The gang allegedly used fake documents to register non-existent vehicles in states such as Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland and obtained registration numbers and online NOCs from RTO offices for re-registration in Maharashtra, the official said.

The accused then allegedly stole vehicles matching the information in NOCs, replaced the engine and chassis numbers, and registered them in Maharashtra for resale, he said.

The thefts had taken place in the jurisdiction of 16 police stations over the last three to four years, the official said.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered against an unidentified man for allegedly manhandling a police inspector after he questioned him for loitering in a suspicious manner near a bank in Navi Mumbai, police said on Monday. The incident took place at around 3.30 am on Sunday in Koparkhairne area.

A police team on night patrolling duty spotted the man loitering in a suspicious manner near a motorbike close to a bank in the area.

When the police tried to enquire with him, he pulled out a sickle from his bag, an official from Koparkhairne police station said.

As the police personnel tried to pin him down, he hit an inspector, who fell and suffered minor injuries. The man escaped taking advantage of the darkness, he said.

The police have registered an FIR against the unidentified man under Indian Penal Code sections 353 (assault or use of criminal force on any person being a public servant in the execution of his duty) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant) and provisions of the Arms Act, the official said.

Efforts were on to trace the culprit, he added. (With inputs from agencies)