Mumbai Crime: Cops bust gangs who sold stolen vehicles, parts to customers

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The Mumbai police recently arrested the members of two separate gangs, who used to sell stolen vehicles and parts to customers under different pretexts. While the first gang, which was busted by the MHB police, attached chassis and engine number plates bought from scrap dealers to stolen vehicles and sold them off, the second one cheated people by using parts from stolen bikes to upgrade the original ones from 3-G to 4-5 models.

According to the MHB police, the accused in the first case has been identified as Aalam Sheikh, 32, a resident of Jogeshwari and mechanic by profession. On March 25, the cops received information about Aalam selling off a stolen car. They laid a trap and arrested him with another vehicle, which had a number plate belonging to a different car. Speaking to mid-day, a police officer said, "We have recovered four more cars from him. He has been arrested under section 379 of IPC. After being produced in court, he was remanded to police custody till March 31. We are on the lookout for the other members of the gang."

In the second case, the Crime Branch (CB) had received a complaint from a Bandra-based Honda showroom that someone tampered with the engine and chassis numbers of a 2011-make Honda Activa and presented it as an upgraded 4-G bike to a customer. Following this, the CB started an investigation in the matter and zeroed down on two accused identified as Sahil Abdul Gaanjha and Arif Khan.

During interrogation, Sahil confessed that Arif and a third accused in the case - Asif Khan (still absconding) - used to steal bikes and change their chassis and engine numbers using a welding machine and attach them to the vehicles that would be given to customers as upgraded ones. After that Sahil would sell them off. Following investigation, police recovered 21 bikes from the accused. A Crime Branch officer said, "The accused duo has been arrested under sections 379, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, and 34 of IPC. We are trying to find out whether more people are involved or not."

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