NEW DELHI: With the arrest of 13 people, Delhi Police has dismantled a syndicate of vehicle thieves and those who sold the stolen cars through online Autotech companies like CARS24 and CarDekho, a senior police officer said on Monday.
The police operation began in February this year when the cops started investigating a case of stolen car. The police have so far recovered 20 high-end cars like Fortuner, Innova and Tata Harrier.
“We were working on two different cases of motor vehicle thefts. One of the stolen vehicles, Hyundai Creta, was traced near Mayur Vihar phase-1 Metro Station, and was recovered from the possession of a person named Anwar Qureshi,” Special Commissioner of Police (Crime) Devesh Chandra Srivastva said.
The cops found two mobile phones from Qureshi. When cops scanned it they saw data containing about 40 suspicious vehicles and 20 fake bank accounts. “Various suspicious WhatsApp chats indicating the involvement of a well organised syndicate were also found,” the Special CP said.
Meanwhile, Cars24 Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vikram Chopra stated that they have taken this issue seriously and are closely working with the authorities in their investigation.
"We reported these cases and promptly provided the police with all necessary information, leading to the recovery of these vehicles," the top official said.
Chopra further informed that the Cars24 is thoroughly reviewing their internal procedures to enhance the safeguards.
"We sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused our customers and are dedicated to preventing this from happening again," the CEO added.
Intricate network
Qureshi (42), a resident of Jamia Nagar in southeast Delhi, was placed under arrest and put through sustained interrogation. He revealed that that he along with one Shadab, a resident of Bijnor, started sale-purchase of stolen vehicles at the instance of one Danish, known by his nickname as “Doctor Danish.”
“He said that as it was hard to find regular customers for stolen cars, so they explored the means to sell these vehicles to online portals. First, they analysed and understood the functioning of CarDekho and CARS24 where they found that these companies made payment in the bank account of registered owners,” the officer said.
To tackle this part, the accused came in contact with a bank employee named Mohd. Riyaz, who worked in AU Small Finance Bank, New Friends Colony, who allegedly facilitated in opening fake bank accounts for transferring money received through selling of stolen cars.
Fake certificates
The next part was to take care of the inspection being conducted by these companies. But before that, the gang had to tackle another problem which was registration and chassis number of a “stolen” vehicle.
It was at this juncture, the accused Qureshi came in contact with co-accused Altaf and Shahil, both residents of Shaheen Bagh, Delhi, who were running a printing shop in the name of Saifi Print.
“Both Altaf and Shahil got involved in the syndicate and helped in preparing fake registration certificates of stolen vehicles and other documents like Aadhar Cards, PAN Cards, Voter Cards and NOC of Bank etc,” Srivastva said.
But whose fake documents were they printing? The syndicate searched online car selling portals for the similar and genuine same model and same colour cars, which were identical to stolen cars.
“They obtained the details of the genuine registered owner through an open-source information portal and other sources. Thereafter, they used to prepare fake identification documents in the name of the genuine owner,” the top officer said.
The gang used to prepare fake RC and engrave the engine and chassis of genuine cars. Stolen vehicles were ready to be sold!
Final trick
Now comes the final part: inspection by the Cars 24 and CarDekho companies.
The cops during investigation found that one Vikas Mishra, an ex-employee of CarDekho company, was having good liaison with car companies viz CARS24 and CarDekho and he worked as a facilitator between the accused Anwar and the car companies, for selling stolen vehicles as genuine.
As the Crime Branch was working on all these inputs, they received crucial information on August 6 that one person namely Puru Singh involved in selling of various stolen cars to CARS24, is planning to sell a car through CARS24 on fake registration number plates and documents.
How the police got hold of key accused
“We were working on two different cases of motor vehicle thefts. One of the stolen vehicles, Hyundai Creta, was traced near Mayur Vihar phase-1, and was recovered from a person named Anwar Qureshi, said a police officer
The gang gets bigger and cleverer
Key accused Qureshi informed the police during questioning that he along with one Shadab, a resident of Bijnor (Uttar Pradesh), started sale-purchase of stolen vehicles at the instance of one Danish, known by his nickname as ‘Doctor Danish’