Thane, Nov 27 (PTI) The Navi Mumbai police has seized stolen vehicles worth over Rs 2 crore and arrested five persons for allegedly cheating people by promising them good returns in leasing out their cars, an official said on Friday.

The inter-state gang had set up a business in Nerul of Navi Mumbai under the name Travel Point, through which the accused took cars from owners promising them to get good returns by leasing them to hotels and corporates, Navi Mumbai police commissioner Bipin Kumar Singh said.

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The accused procured original documents from victims and later sold the vehicles, the official said.

They would pay the proceeds to the victims for a few months before closing their shop and disappearing, it was stated.

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The accused had similarly set up shops in different places, signed lease contracts and then sold the vehicles to their associates in Gujarat, Singh said.

An offence against them was registered with the Nerul police and during the probe, the accused kept changing their locations.

The first arrest in the case was made earlier this month from Boisar, following which four more accused were nabbed from Bengaluru and Gujarat, he said.

The accused have been identified as Satyaprakash Mithailal Varma, Ashish Gangaram Pujari, Anthony Pal Chettiar, who is the mastermind of the gang, and two associates from Gujarat Mohammad Vasim Mohmmad Farid Shaikh and Javed Abdul Sattar Shaikh.

At least 29 stolen vehicles valued at over Rs 2 crore have been recovered from different parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra, the official said.

Similar offences have been registered against the arrested accused with Amboli, Oshiwara, Azad Maidan, Virar and Worli police stations.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)