BHUBANESWAR: Two persons were arrested on Monday for allegedly taking cars on rent from self-drive service providers and mortgaging the vehicles to different people and obtaining loans.
While one accused, 41-year-old Susanta Kumar Sahu is a former insurance agent, the other R Tata Rao (35) runs a tea stall in Unit-IV area.
The matter came to light after a self-drive service provider Rajat Kumar Sahu filed a complaint with Nayapalli police alleging that Susanta had taken five cars from him on rent over a month back but did not return four of them. The cars had an accumulated rent amount of `1.36 lakh. Susanta had been taking the service from Rajat since over a year.
Another self-drive service provider Suraj Kumar Bisoyi also approached police with a similar complaint. Following the complaints, Nayapalli police registered two cases and launched an investigation. During the probe, police found out that the duo mortgaged the cars by claiming to be their owners and took loans from different people.
“The accused were mortgaging the rented cars to different people claiming that they were in dire need of money. They used to small loans of around `30,000 to `60,000 in lieu of the vehicles. Probe is on to ascertain the total loan amount they availed by cheating the unsuspecting people,” ACP Goutam Kisan said.
While six cars were seized from Susanta’s possession, three were recovered from Tata Rao.