Thane vehicle racket: Two RTO officials held

They used to sell the vehicles in different states at nominal rates. The accused made fake documents of 428 vehicles.

Four people, including two regional transport office (RTO) inspectors, were arrested from Beed RTO office for running a racket to resell scrapped vehicles.

The 34 vehicles, which were seized by Thane crime branch, been kept on police ground on Friday. (Praful Gangurde/ HT)

The accused used to make duplicate form no 21 (selling certificate) and 22 (manufacturer certificate) and after registering the vehicle at Beed RTO.

They used to sell the vehicles in different states at nominal rates. The accused made fake documents of 428 vehicles.

The police have seized 34 vehicles, including cars, tempo, truck and buses, worth Rs2.2 crore. The racket led to Rs31.7 lakh loss of government revenue.

Sachin Sonawane, 35, a scrap vehicle buyer, Sayyed Shakir Ahmed, 39, a RTO agent from Beed, were arrested on August 29. After questioning them, two RTO inspectors — Rajendra Nikam, 52, and Nilesh Bhagure, 37 —were arrested on Tuesday.

Last month, a four-wheeler was stolen from Kogaon in Bhiwandi.

While investigating the case, Thane crime branch officers got a tip-off that the Beed RTO sells scrapped vehicles. We studied how it works and how the vehicles are being sold to customers.

“We found the involvement of RTO agents and inspectors in the racket. The accused had been running the racket since 2010. They have sold many vehicles and we are tracking them and checking their documents. As per legal orders, we will scrap those vehicles,” said Shital Raut, senior police inspector from Thane crime branch unit -2.

The police said Sonawane used to go to private car company auctions and after purchasing cars and other heavy vehicles, he used to alert Ahmed, who is an agent. He used get the RTO inspector to make fake certificates and register them at Beed RTO. The scrapped vehicles include private and commercial ones.

Deputy commissioner of police, Thane, (crime), Dipak Devraj said, “We have arrested four accused. We are in process of tracking other vehicles which are registered under fake certificates and documents.”