67 cars worth Rs 5 cr recovered

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The North division police have arrested four conmen for cheating owners of cabs under the pretext of attaching their vehicles to travel agencies and selling them for at a cheaper rate in neighbouring states. The police have recovered 67 cars worth Rs 5.72 crore from the accused.

The Bagalagunte police have identified the accused as Shiva Kumar, a resident of Nagawara, Krishne Gowda and Srikanth from Hassan and Afsar from Goripalya. The police are on the lookout for five more fraudsters who are absconding in the case.

The main accused Kumar was running a tours and travels agency in Bagalagunte. He had convinced the victims of paying Rs 15,000 per month to each car that is attached to his agency. Initially when the business was good, he was paying the car owners as promised to them. In the month of November he went missing and was not reachable on his mobile phone.

Kumar along with the three others had sold the attached cars in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Mumbai and other parts of the country. Srikanth and Afsar were working in the agency and despite knowing about the fraud, they continued to scout for car owners, as they were getting commissions.

A few more cars are yet to be recovered from the accused, who are absconding. The Bagalagunte police have registered a case and are further investigating.