BHUBANESWAR: The city police on Thursday claimed to have busted an inter-state racket allegedly involved in stealing cars for self-drive rental agencies in various parts of the country and arrested two persons from Manipur in this connection. The accused were identified as Konthoujam Ranveer Singh (30) of Imphal West district and Wahengbam Santosh Singh (31) of Kakching.
As per police, two persons reportedly hailing from Jharkhand and West Bengal hired a Mahindra Thar and a Hyundai i20 from a self-drive car rental agency at Sampur in the Bharatpur area on November 3. The duo had deposited the required documents and were supposed to return the two vehicles after two days.
When they did not return the vehicles, the rental agency lodged a complaint in connection with Bharatpur police. Initial investigation revealed the gang’s members hire cars from different rental agencies in states like Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, and West Bengal and then illegally sell them to some miscreants in Kolkata. The stolen vehicles are further sold to the gang’s members in Manipur and Meghalaya.
The miscreants then create fake documents of stolen car owners and change the ownership of the vehicles. The duo involved in stealing the two cars from the rental agency in Bhubaneswar had managed to disconnect the GPS system of Mahindra Thar, police informed.
“We managed to trace and seize the stolen Hyundai i20 from Kolkata. Two persons - Konthoujam Ranveer Singh (30) of Imphal West district and Wahengbam Santosh Singh (31) of Kakching were arrested for purchasing the car from some other members of the gang for Rs 2 lakh,” said an officer of Bharatpur police station.