Vehicle document racket busted; two arrested

HUBLI: Keshwapur police on Monday busted a vehicle document racket and arrested two persons who were selling vehicles by creating fake papers. Seven vehicles including cars and SUVs worth Rs 45 lakh were recovered from them.
Hubli-Dharwad police commissioner K Ramchandra Rao said Abbas Ali, resident of Sandur and Abubakkar Sadiq, resident of Sajeepa Mannur of Bantwal taluk are the arrested.A case of cheating and forgery has been booked against them.
Police said they got wind of the racket when a Bagalkot-based contractor Mahantesh Shettar came to a Hubli showroom for servicing his car. There he came to know that his car was in the name of a person based in Kerala. A shocked Mahantesh filed a complaint at Keshwapur police station stating that he had bought the car from Abbas Ali has for Rs 3,15,000 in April.
Acting on a tip-off, Keshwapur police traced Abbas Ali and Abubakkar Sadiq in Bellary and arrested them. The duo used to buy cars at a lower price and then sell them to others by making fake RC book and other documents and changing number plates of vehicles. Police have recovered rubber seals of Mysore and Bangalore RTO and a computer used to prepare fake RC book, insurance and clearance certificates.
The accused admitted that they took loans from different banks to buy vehicles.
The vehicles seized from them were from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka, the commissioner informed.