Man held for duping owners of used cars

A 32-year-old man was recently arrested from suburban Oshiwara for allegedly stealing used cars by misleading their owners, police said today.

The accused, identified as Vishal Patil, used to surf websites to zero in on the owners who want to sell their used four-wheelers, an official said.

He then used to call them on their mobile phones and fix a meeting for inspecting the cars.

Explaining Patil's modus operandi, the official said the accused used to win confidence of the sellers by offering them a price higher than the market rate.

He would then offer them cheques, which later bounced, towards the part payment, before taking away the car.

"The accused then used to sell the car to someone else by forging papers," according to the official.

A complaint was recently lodged by Oshiwara resident Seema Somani claiming that Patil had ran away with her car.

Police have registered an FIR against Patil under section 406 (breach of trust) of the IPC, the official said.

Patil was arrested from Oshiwara recently.

"During his interrogation, police came to know that he has been wanted in similar cases registered at our police station last year," said Oshiwara senior police official Subash Khanvilkar.

A similar case was registered against him at Vanrai police station.