Mumbai: Interstate gang of car thieves busted, seven arrested

Accused who were arrested by the police

Seven people were arrested by the Goregaon police for changing the number plates of cars involved in accidents with the number plates of robbed vehicles and selling them across the state.

According to the police sources, after police arrested Mohammed Asim Mansuri alais Kulfi on September 3, they unearthed the racket that he was part of.

The officers said that the accused, Mansuri, led them to Fida Husain Khan (39) and Arvind Tiwari (27) who were incharge of robbing cars and making the registration (RC book) and other documents of cars involved in accidents to replace them with vehicles which were robbed from different parts of the country.

The police have also arrested four garage employees from Mumbai who used to inform the gang about cars which has come to them for repair and were involved in accidents.

The police have seized five cars from the gang members including Toyota Fortuner, Maruti Brezza, Ertiga, etc which are worth atleast Rs 59 lakh.

The racket was busted after a 25-year-old car dealer from Goregaon had registered an FIR at Goregaon police station on September 2 stating that a person had misused the registration book and documents of two of his cars because of which e-challans were issued.

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According to the statement given by Chandan Krishnakumar Tiwari to Goregaon police officials, he had bought two Maruti Brezza cars from an auction held by Future Generali Insurance Company. He bought the first car with registration number MH-05-EA-7787 on December 22, 2021, for Rs four lakh and gave it for repair to a mechanic in Jogeshwari. Tiwari stated that the car is still under repairs and is in the garage at Jogeshwari.

Tiwari stated that he bought the second car with registration number Maruti Brezza MH-43-BN-7400 for Rs 4.21 lakh in July 2022. He gave the second car also for repairs to a mechanic at Veera Desai Road in Andheri and he got the car back after repairs on August 27, 2022.

Tiwari told Goregaon police officials that when he visited the Mumbai traffic police app, to check if there were any fines pending from the previous owners of the car, he found two e-challan tickets issued in Pune. One e-challan ticket was issued for the first car, which continues to be under repairs at a garage in Jogeshwari, for parking in a no-parking area. While the second e-challan was issued on the second car for speeding at Navle bridge in Pune on August 3.

Tiwari told police officials that he had given the registration book and documents to Mohammed Asim Mansuri alias Kulfi whom he knew for the last five years, to sell the two cars. Tiwari further said that Mansuri had misused the documents of the car because of which e-challans were issued on cars that were under repairs in garages in Mumbai.

Goregaon police officials have registered an offence under sections 420, 406, 465, 467, 471 and 473 of the Indian Penal Code and are investigating the case, said Additional commissioner Virendra Mishra, north region.