17 February,2009 08:04 AM IST | | Imran Gowhar
14 arrested for 'recovering' high-end cars and selling them after forging the registration numbers
Fourteen recovery agents, all belonging to the underworld and appointed by banks and financial institutions, have been arrested for 'recovering'' high-end cars and selling them after forging the registration numbers.
Investigations by Sampigehalli police reveal that the gang had already disposed off around 7,000 high-end vehicles. Of these, 4,000 were financed by one bank. Police suspect the hand of some bank employees.
The arrested were on the payrolls of notorious gangs like the Brigade Azham gang, Rama Lakshman gang and Bullet Ravi gang.
"The racket, unique and dangerous, has been going on in the city for four years. But it's interesting that neither the defaulters nor the banks lodged any complaint," police commissioner Shankar M Bidari said.
How they operated
When applying for work, the accused would give the bank an address and make sure family members were available there till the inspection team visited them.
After clinching the job, they would shift to some other place and continue to work there.
The gang would forcibly recover the vehicle and exhibit a different one to the bank officials, after dismantling it. They would say the defaulter had dismantled the spare parts and fled. In some cases, bank officials would write off the loan account but police suspect that some of them could be accomplices.
"Most banks insure part of the loan amount. Hence, they will get compensation through insurance. In other cases, the gang members have threatened vehicle-owners and robbed the vehicles. The gangsters have been found using these vehicles with different number plates," Bidari said.
Grabbed land
The gangsters had even got 38 acres belonging to the City Armed Reserve (CAR) in Thanisandra registered in one Uma's name.u00a0
A team of six inspectors has been appointed to investigate the case.
Bidari warns banks
City police commissioner Shankar M Bidari has warned all financial institutions against appointing criminals as recovery agents.
"I am advising and warning financial institutions to obtain police verification for recovery agents. Otherwise, the financial firms will be in trouble. I also request the public to inform the nearest police station about recovery agents harassing defaulters," Bidari said.
He asked security agencies not to issue any armed weapons to guards, if they were not re-registered.
"The accused in this case have revealed that they got the pistols from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar-based security agencies. We willu00a0 investigate this," he said.
In the net
The accused are Raviraj alias Bullet Ravi, Lakshman, Girish, Nagaraj, Ramesh, Mohan, Azhar, Fasil Hussein, Alim Shariff, Yesu alias Selvaraju, Vasu M, Harish, Murugan and Ravikumar.
They face more than 50 criminal cases, including 20 cases of murder.
