On Saturday, Mumbai authorities caught an entire group of seven people including two of whom were women on suspicion of attempting to steal high-end automobiles from various parts of Mumbai and the nearby Thane district.
The Nagpada police have busted a gang that operated on the idea of calling automobile owners to hire their vehicles.
“Zeenat Khan (30), Diya Sachdev (21), Shadab Sheikh (34), Salman Sayyed (23), Amin Sheikh (28), Rahil Khan (29), and Swapnil Dhule (25), are the people who have been taken into custody”, an official stated. They are from different parts of the city locations. According to the official, three expensive cars which were taken from Nagpada were eventually found by the police.
According to DCP Akbar Pathan, “These thieves used stolen cellphones SIM card numbers to hide their identities”.
Three automobiles, notably a stolen Toyota Crysta and Fortuner that the Nagpada police had seized, were taken from the suspects by the authorities. In connection with being unable to return the hired Crysta car, a case has been opened at the Santacruz police station.
Stole the vehicles and sold them to other people
Each of the arrested group members had a unique position inside the fraudulent operation. Zeenat is suspected of stealing stolen cell phones to make fake bookings for rental vehicles.
This gang was working by calling car rental agencies using mobile phones that were stolen. They neglected to return the cars once they were rented and then sold the cars for cash using fake paperwork. The official revealed that while one member of the group, a computer expert, faked documentation, others took part in the actual theft of the cars and afterwards sold them.
Zeenat Khan along with Shahdab Shaikh (both accused) was in charge of booking the vehicles, and would then go get the vehicles. These people would leave Mumbai after that, rent cars, and then resell them for cash to other people while pretending as the owner of the papers.
As a result of their failure to return a rental car, these people had a FIR filed against them prior to this incident at Mumbai’s Santacruz police department.
“The person making the complaint Farid Abdul Chali (26), stated that early July 29, a man by the identity of Niyaz Khan contacted him and rented two cars for use as self-driving”, according to information provided by the Nagpada police.
The dealer stated that a few people rented a car for self-driving. However, three people among which two of whom were wearing burqas completed the transfer of ownership and finished the transaction. Days later, efforts to contact them proved unsuccessful, as the vehicle was not recovered, according to a Nagpada police official.
He wasn’t meant to return both automobiles until August 1, but he didn’t. Chali tried contacting Niyaz Khan several times but could not. It was unsuccessful for Farid Abdul to get in touch with Niyaz Khan.
So, on August 10, he filed an official report at the Nagpada police station after being unable to get back the vehicles he owned.
Police started investigating as soon as they received the complaint
Police investigators Sachin Kadam, as well as Kiran Chowgle, were given the inquiry as soon as Senior Police Inspector Mahesh Kumar Thakur received the report from the complainant.
The suspects are charged with faking people who were interested in renting expensive cars for their own use. An auto dealer filed a report with the police, which led to the identification of the stealing group.
Zeenat Khan, 30, and Jiya Sachdev, 21, were arrested by the Nagpada police in pursuit of the investigation’s technical inquiry. Seven people in total ended up in custody while these two were being questioned, and other suspects were identified. The Nagpada police further arrested Amin Shaikh (age 28), Rahil Khan (age 29), and Swapnil Ghule (age 25) about this crime.