Defective car sale racket unearthed: Police

Thane Police today claimed to have unearthed a racket allegedly involved in selling defective cars to customers with the help of forged documents.

One of the two accused involved in the case is an RTO agent from Beed district of the state in the Marathwada region, a police official said.

Accused Sachin Sonawane, a resident of Vashi in Navi Mumbai, allegedly used to purchase cars with some defects from car dealers based in Mumbai and used to sell them to unsuspecting buyers by decking them up, said Thane Police PRO Sukhda Narkar.

As per the conditions mentioned in the car purchase tenders, Sonawane was supposed to destroy the defective cars, but instead he sold them with the help of another accused Sayyed Shakir, she said.

"Sonawane used to pose himself as an automobile dealer to convince buyers of cars," Narkar said.

Sonawane cheated the state exchequer of Rs 9.42 lakh by forging receipts of vehicle tax, she said.

Shakir used to prepare fake sale certificates and manufacturing certificates of the cars and got them registered with the RTO in Beed, the officer said.

She said the police stumbled upon the scam while they were probing a car registration racket at the Beed RTO (Regional Transport Office).

Sonawane and Shakir have been booked under various sections of the IPC for cheating.

Police have yet to make any arrests in the case.

The cheating occurred during March 2017 to September 2017.

Police have so far unearthed five cases of dubious sales during investigation.