Fraud flees with rented Maruti Brezza; uninstalls GPS tracker

Police in Mumbai are on a manhunt for Tulshiram Sonavane who fled with a Maruti Brezza rented from a businessman, switched off his phone, and uninstalled the GPS tracker.

Mumbai: The police have launched a manhunt to trace an accused who fled with Maruti Brezza, priced at ₹16.63 lakh, which belonged to a 40-year-old businessman in Ghatkopar. According to officials, the accused rented the car on a monthly basis for ₹30,000 and then ran away with the vehicle and switched off his mobile phone.

HT Image

The man, identified as Tulshiram Yuvraj Sonavane, claimed that he ran a car supply service on a rental basis and had even made an agreement with the victim to use his car for the same purpose, police sources said.

The complainant, Dipesh Vora, who is a cotton bag manufacturer and lives in Pant Nagar, Ghatkopar East along with his family, purchased a new car a few months ago and installed a GPS tracker. For some reason, he later decided to give up his car on rent and was searching for a rental company online. While browsing, he chanced upon a company called, ‘Kanishka Motobike’ which takes cars on rent. He then contacted the company on their mobile number.

“A person named Tulshiram Sonavane picked up the call. A few minutes into the conversation, Vora shared the pictures of his car on WhatsApp and Sonavane agreed to pay ₹30,000 rent on a monthly basis. Both of them finalised the deal by signing a contract. On April 25, as per the agreement, the car was handed over to Sonavane,” said an officer.

When Vora contacted Sonavane for rent, the accused said he was busy in the meeting and would call him back. But later, Sonavane switched off his mobile phone. “Vora then went to his address at Badlapur where the security guard of that building informed that Sonawane had taken money from several people and left this place a month ago to live elsewhere,” added an officer.

Sonawane also uninstalled the car’s GPS tracker so that it remains untraceable. Vora also reached out to the private developer who was operating the car but to no avail. “While inquiring about the firm, Vora learnt that the company ‘Kanishka Motobike’ is not in existence and it was fake,” added the official. An FIR has been registered against Sonavane under sections 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 318(4) (cheating and deceit), 319(2) (whoever cheats by personation shall be punished with imprisonment ) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, added Kewale.