Mumbai: Gang of 3 held for stealing 32 vehicles from city owners

One of the stolen cars

The Aarey police have unearthed a major inter-state racket, with the arrest of three men who allegedly stole dozens of SUVs and luxury cars on the pretext of renting them out to high-end companies and at the International Airport. In exchange, the accused would offer the vehicle owners an income of over Rs 40,000-Rs 60,000per month but would never contact them again.

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The police have so far recovered 32 vehicles across the state and from Madhya Pradesh. The accused would change the registration number and use them as tourist vehicles. They had sold one car to a politician, said the police. The police also seized a vehicle from Nagpur that was being used to smuggle liquor.

The action was taken after one Santosh Nilakh filed a police complaint on July 24. Three people met me and assured a monthly income of R45,000 if I attached my Swift car to their company 'TAC Enterprizes' for three years on a contract, he alleged. Nilakh signed the contract and gave them his car and documents in February, but he neither got the money nor his car back.

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During the investigation, the police found that the gang operated from Aarey Colony.

A team of cops nabbed Raja Nadar and Amit Sawant, both 30 years old, from the airport in the wfirst week of August. During the interrogation, the cops discovered that one Lakshmikant Patkar, 30, was the mastermind of the racket. He was arrested four days later.

"Sawant used to work in the administrative department of an IT company. He took Nadar's help to lure vehicle owners to their company, and get all the original documents and the vehicle. They would then hand them over to Patkar, who would in turn sell the vehicles in the interiors of Maharashtra," another officer said.
"We have seized the vehicles from Nagpur, Nashik, Pune and Aurangabad. Some cars have been seized from Madhya Pradesh, too," the officer said.

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