HYDERABAD: Cyberabad Police on Monday arrested a six-member gang that had been selling cars after hiring them from their owners. The gang, led by one Palle Naresh Kumar, would approach a car owner and make an agreement with him by promising to pay higher rents, said police while explaining the modus operandi.
After paying rents for a few months, the police said, they would sell off the vehicles to others claiming that those were seized by banks and finance companies and they had purchased them in public auctions.
The gang had approached various travel agencies and car owners in Hyderabad and took 272 cars from them with an oral agreement to pay the rent monthly. Out of 272 cars, 205 cars were forcefully taken back by the respective original owners.
One of the remaining 67 cars was recovered by Tappachabutra Police recently when they arrested Naresh Kumar. However, 13 cars are yet to be recovered, said Cyberabad police commissioner VC Sajjanar.
Based on a specific complaint, a case was registered at RC Puram Police station in April 2021 against Naresh Kumar after he duped a travel agency and sold off 11 cars. The accused paid rent for the first three months and later sold the cars. When the complainant asked about his car rental dues and the vehicles, the accused avoided him.
Inquiries revealed that Naresh Kumar takes cars on a rental basis by giving false promises to the car owners and travel agencies. After paying rents regularly for a few months, he sells them vehicles off or mortgages them. In the process, he made acquaintance with other accused -- Badavath Raju Naik, Kalaumula Vikas, Golle Bharath Joshi, Bhanuri Election Reddy, and Talla Narsimha Goud and formed a gang. With an intention to make easy money, they started purchasing cars from him and sold them for commission.
Seven cases had been registered against them in different police stations of Cyberabad.
Ten Swift Dzire, 9 Ertiga, Swift and Breeza six each, four Baleno, three each i-20 and XUV 500, two Innova Crysta and one each Creta, Honda Amaze, Polo, S Cross, Wagon R, and Honda Jazz were among the seized vehicles.