Inter-state vehicle lifters gang busted, Mastermind held

Surjit Kumar Dhal,Cuttack, April 4: Badambadi police Wednesday claimed busting a gang of inter-state stolen vehicle traders with the arrest of its mastermind and recovery of four cars.

The gang leader G. Sanjeev Kumar Swami belong to Chandbali in Bhadrak.

DCP Akhiesvar Singh said, complainant Sunil Kumar Jena on March 25 had filed an FIR alleging that Sanjeev and his associate Sudhansu Mansingh alias Babaji in December 2018 had executed an agreement with him and took his Innova car on rent of Rs.38,000 per month.

Later, they failed to pay the rent and avoided the phone calls of the complainant.

While Jena came to know that both had sold his car and fled from the locality, he then filed police complaint following which the gang was busted and Sanjeev was arrested.

Speaking about the modus operandi of the gang, Singh said that Sanjeev who was running a medicine distributing unit near Badambadi and his associate Babaji who is a driver by profession cunningly post advertisement in social media and contact vehicle owners to engage their vehicle on rent there by executing agreement to pay Rs.30,000 to 38,000 per month. Once they got the vehicle, sell the same to others claiming to be the original owner.

During the last four months, they have cheated the owner of five vehicles and sold those vehicle in and outside the state such as Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Basing on the confessional statement of Sanjeev while police have sized three Innova cars and a Honda City car stolen from Cuttack’s Odia Bazar, Sikharpur, Mahamadia Bazar and Nayagarh.

His associate Babaji is absconding with another Honda City car stolen from Niali locality, the DCP informed.