Fake ‘govt attachment’ deals: Conman held in Gwalior, 17 luxury cars recovered

Bhopal: The Gwalior Crime Branch has arrested a 23-year-old man for allegedly cheating travel operators by fraudulently hiring luxury vehicles on the pretext of attaching them to government departments and then misappropriating them. Police said the suspect created fake agreements and ownership documents, pawned the cars for cash and disappeared without paying rent.Abhay Bhadauria, a BA graduate, had earlier run a tiffin centre and later began posing as a manager with a private firm, to win the confidence of vehicle owners.He promised lucrative monthly rentals — up to Rs 85,000 for a seven-seater and Rs 50,000 for a five-seater — claiming the vehicles would be deployed with government departments.According to police, Bhadauria hired cars using forged company papers and then mortgaged them for Rs 2–5 lakh each after preparing fake ownership documents. Investigators said he attempted to defraud owners of more than 50 vehicles. The scheme unraveled last week when Madhuvanji Travels owner filed a complaint after Bhadauria absconded with 19 SUVs neither deployed nor paid for; background checks exposed his fake firm affiliation. A second operator came forward with an identical swindle involving 20 cars, prompting a full Crime Branch mobilization.Using precise mobile tower location data, GPS vehicle pings and suspect profiling, teams swiftly apprehended Bhadauria in a dramatic raid. Seventeen high-end vehicles — collectively valued at roughly 1.5 crore — have been recovered from pawnshops and hideouts. Interrogations continue to uncover potential accomplices, pawn networks and any remaining duped owners, with police vowing a thorough probe into the scam's full scope and financial footprint.