₹5.5 cr interstate vehicle theft racket busted, 3 RTO agents, 9 others arrested

Navi Mumbai crime branch busted an interstate vehicle theft racket, arrested 12 people, including RTO officials, seized 29 vehicles worth ₹5.5 crore.

NAVI MUMBAI: The Navi Mumbai crime branch recently busted an interstate vehicle theft racket of re-registering and re-selling transport vehicles through forged engine and chassis numbers and confiscated 29 vehicles valued at ₹5.5 crore. The racket bust resulted in the booking of 3 officials from the Amravati Regional Transport Office and nine agents across states.

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In the covert operation, the Navi Mumbai crime branch successfully nabbed the kingpin of the racket, Jave Abdullah Shaikh alias Maniar, 49, on March 16. Other accused arrested on Wednesday are Mohammad Aslam Baba Shaikh, 49, a Buldhana resident, followed by the arrests of his accomplices - Shivaji Asaram Giri, 48, from Sambhaji Nagar, Amit Shankatha Singh alias Monu Rajput, 33, from Surat, Shaikh Rafeeq Shaikh Dilawar Mansuri alias Rafeeq Mamu, 42, from Amravati and Varun Ramesh Jibhekar alias Seel, 41, from Nagpur.

The arrested Amravati RTO officials are assistant motor vehicle inspector Bhagyashree Patil 43, inspector Ganesh Varute, 35, and Assistant RTO Sidharth Vijay Singh Thoke, 35.

Modus operandi

According to the crime branch officials, the modus operandi was to procure vehicles from owners unable to pay EMIs. “The main accused used to convince the owner to part away with the vehicle as he would pay the remaining instalments. After a few instalments, the vehicle was reported stolen through a complaint made online,” Amit Kale, deputy commissioner of Police (Crime Branch), said. “Meanwhile the chassis number and engine number of the vehicle are changed and then it is taken to states like Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur and even Nagaland.”

Once the paperwork is done in other states, the vehicle is brought to Nashik and through the RTO officers it is given passage to run in Maharashtra. “The vehicle is once again sold to a new customer at a lesser market rate,” said Kale.

Acting on a tip-off, crime branch officials intercepted a few trucks in Navi Mumbai and found that the chassis and engine numbers on those trucks were never manufactured by the company.

Following this, officials camped at Nashik RTO to ascertain the racket’s nature. The laxness shown by the Amrative RTOs while verifying the vehicles coming further aided in the bursting of the racket. “There was no verification done of the documents that had come for passing and neither were the RTO officers physically verifying the chassis and the engine number which if checked could be come across as tampered,” added the officer.

A case has been registered under sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 479, 413,201, 401,120 (B) of the IPC.