Three held for stealing 12 SUVs from Maharashtra

Shakeel Yusuf, Ayajkhan Samikhan and Jahedkhan Chandkhan used to book cars online from various places in Maharashtra and sold them in Telangana

Unit 1 of the Pune police crime branch recovered 12 SUV cars collectively worth Rs1.5 crore from three accused who booked cars online from various places in Maharashtra and sold them in Telangana.

Stolen cars recovered by the police from the three accused. (HT PHOTO)

The men were identified as Shakeel Sayyed Yusuf, a resident of Buldhana, Ayajkhan Samikhan, a resident of Nagpur, and Jahedkhan Chandkhan, also from Nagpur.

The three have now been handed over to the Jalna police for further investigation, according to police inspector Nitin Bhosale Patil of Unit 1.

The crime branch was investigating the cases recorded from 2016 and 2017 of car thefts from Badnapur, Maujpur and Mantha regions in the state. Yusuf was arrested on June 29 based on the information which the police received while investigating these cases. After questioning Yusuf, the police arrested the other two based on the information provided by him.

The three men ran a racket by stealing cars by booking them online. When the cars reached either Buldhana, Jalgaon or Jalna, Yusuf made the driver stop the car under the pretext of wanting to take a leak. Once the car stopped, Yusuf sent the driver to either buy cigarettes or a water bottle and left with the car himself, according to the police.

These vehicles were booked from various places including Jalna, Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Mumbai, Pune among others. With the help of the other two, the cars were sold in various locations in Telangana including Hyderabad and Nizamabad.

The police uncovered 12 cases from Maujpur, Mantha, Badnapur, Bhokardan, Jalgaon, Sion, Patangnagar and Juhu. The police are expecting more arrests in the case.