Duo cheats people of vehicles worth ₹2.83 crore by promising rent, held

Accused mortgaged vehicles to close to 50 people from across State instead

Huge haul: Police showcase the keys of the vehicles (below) recovered from the duo, on Saturday.

The Panvel City police have arrested two people for cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust by promising vehicle-owners monthly rent and mortgaging their vehicles instead.

The police have recovered 63 vehicles worth ₹2.83 crore from the duo — Satish Pandurang Mhaskar (31), a resident of Rasayani, and Shahrukh Shahnawaz Baig (25), a resident of Panvel.

“Mr. Mhaskar, who was a cable operator and real estate agent, had given his vehicle on mortgage to a friend, which he could not repay. That’s how he got the idea of earning money by getting vehicles from people and mortgaging them,” deputy commissioner of police, Zone 2, Ashok Dudhe, said.

A case was registered against the two by Pradip Deshmukh, on August 3, after he saw someone else using his vehicle.

“When the complainant had gone to his native place near Ratnagiri, he saw someone using his car. On asking the person how he got the vehicle, he was told that Mr. Mhaskar had mortgaged the vehicle with him for ₹1.5 lakh,” Mr. Dudhe said.

Mr. Mhaskar would promise the owners a monthly rent of ₹30,000 for their vehicle. “The accused had been doing this since December 2018. While they paid the rent in the first three months, as the number of vehicles increased, they stopped doing so,” senior police inspector Vinod Chavan, Panvel City police station, said.

Mr. Baig, who was an acquaintance of Mr. Mhaskar, had been asked to help find people who would give money against the vehicle.

“He would approach people and say that a friend of his was in dire need of money and would cook up false stories to gain sympathy, and find people who gave money against the security of a vehicle,” sub-inspector Sunil Tarmale said.

Mr. Mhaskar’s rental scheme became popular via word-of-mouth publicity from some of the initial vehicle owners who received the monthly rent.

“Mr. Mhaskar would make agreements with the owners and tell them that he would outsource the vehicles to corporate firms for employee drop-off and pick-up services,” Mr. Dudhe said.

While Mr. Mhaskar was arrested on August 4, Mr. Baig was arrested on Friday, and the duo is in police custody till August 13.

They got money from close to 50 people, from across the State, against the vehicles, which include — 12 Scorpios, 23 Ertigas, three Xylos, six Swift Dzires, six TUVs, five Celerios, two Brezzas and one each of Accent, Innova, Wagon R, Honda Amaze and Aria.