Car-lifting racket busted in City

Car-lifting racket busted in City
DH News Service,Bangalore:
The Bangalore City police have busted a major racket in looting of cars purchased through loans from various banks.



Though the racket was active for more than four years and they managed to steal as many as 7,000 cars, no bank or customer had filed any complaint in this regard, police said. The City police came to know about it when their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh contacted them in connection with a cheating case. The loans were availed of from institutions such as the ICICI bank, HDFC bank, City Finance and Sri Ram Finance.

Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari told reporters on Monday that 14 persons have been taken into custody in connection with the case. Two pistols, lethal weapons, nine live bullets and 12 cars – all valued at Rs 60 lakh – have been recovered from them. The accused are Raviraj (37), a resident of Yelahanka, Lakshman (33), Sunkadtakke, Girish (27), Yelahanka, Nagaraj (25), Doddaballapura, Ramesh (25), Bommanahalli, Mohan (28), Mururayanagar, Azar (51), Wilson Garden, Fazil (30), BG Road, Alim Sharif, Infantry Road, Yesu (32), Yelahanka New Town, Vasu (24), Maruthinagar, Harish (23), Srinivaspura, Murugan (33), Hegdenagar and Ravi Kumar (38), Sunkadkatte. These people are involved in more than 50 cases including murder and dacoity, he said.
These people would apply for the post of recovery agents in banks after giving a temporary address. After verification and receiving appointment letters from the banks, they would vacate the house.

They would threaten customers who have defaulted payments and threaten them with lethal weapons. Later, they would seize their vehicles using force.

These people would then remove the number plates and chassis of the vehicles and after fixing them on damaged cars, they would convince the bank officials that those cars were of “no use”. Otherwise, they would tell the bank officials that some rowdies were using the cars and it would be better to write off the loans.

After this, they would create fake records and sell the vehicles. But they had kept a few cars with them to convince the bank officials. Of the 7,000 cars, 4,000 belong to Citi Bank, and 3,000 to other banks. The accused had formed several groups to take care of certain areas. The commissioner said banks should consult his office before appointing recovery agents and seek police verification.