Thane Police bust vehicle theft-resale racket, 3 RTO officials among 9 held

The Thane Police in Maharashtra on Thursday claimed to have busted a racket involving theft and resale of vehicles by tampering with their chassis numbers, with the arrest of nine persons including three RTO officials, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, The Thane Police said in a release that they had recovered 29 vehicles worth about Rs 5.5 crore that had been stolen and sold.

The Thane city`s crime branch launched a probe after getting a tip-off about vehicles stolen from other states being registered in Maharashtra with falsified documents, it said, as per the PTI.

Working on several inputs, the police arrested the prime suspect who was identified as Javed Abdulla Sheikh, alias Maniar, from Maharashtra`s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, the release said, the news agency reported on Thursday.

The suspect allegedly replaced the chassis and engine numbers of vehicles stolen from other states with fabricated ones with the help of the other accused. The vehicles were then re-registered with Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) in places including Maharashtra`s Nagpur and Amravati districts, it said.

An assistant RTO official from Amravati district in Maharashtra, a motor transport inspector and an assistant motor transport inspector have also been arrested for connivance, the police said, as per the PTI,

The RTO officials allegedly approved the registration of vehicles and uploaded the details on their portal, making people believe there was no problem with these stolen vehicles.

The prime suspect is named in ten similar cases registered in Navi Mumbai, Thane, Mira Bhayander, Dhule and Aurangabad. He is also involved in crimes in UP and Haryana, the police said, the news agency reported on Thursday.

Two held for forcing woman into flesh trade in Navi Mumbai

Meanwhile, in an another incident, the Police have arrested two managers of a spa in Navi Mumbai for allegedly pushing a woman employee into flesh trade, an official said on Thursday, reported the PTI.

An FIR has been registered against the duo under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 370 (human trafficking) and 34 (common intention) and provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, he said.

The accused have been identified as Sagar Rohidas Karotia (25) and Akash Daulat Vairale (26), who were arrested on Wednesday at around 5.00 am, he said.

Acting on a tip-off, a team from the Turbhe police station raided the spa, located behind a mall in Vashi on April 30 night and caught the duo. They are accused of forcing a female employee of the spa to indulge in flesh trade under the garb of providing massage services, the official said.

(with PTI inputs)