Friend borrows contractor’s SUV, sells it off using forged documents

Pune: A resident of Erandwane, who borrowed his friend's SUV and sold it off after forging RTO documents, was arrested on Monday, along with the purchaser. An FIR was registered against four people, including two people who prepared the fake papers, based on a complaint filed by the vehicle owner, a labour contractor (24) from Walhekarwadi in Chinchwad.Sub-inspector Kiran Balip of the Chinchwad police said, "We arrested the complainant's friend, Avinash Borade (37) from Erandwane, and Bhalchandra Thorat (38) from Chinchwad, who purchased the SUV without verification. A court remanded them in police custody for five days."The police officer said, according to the complainant, Borade approached him in Sept last year and borrowed his SUV for three days, claiming that he wanted it to attend a wedding in the family. "After the deadline ended, the contractor asked for his vehicle. But, Borade cited different reasons and avoided returning the vehicle," Balip said.Balip said when Borade stopped responding to calls in the last few days, the contractor approached police. "We took Borade into custody for questioning," he said.Borade revealed that he sold the vehicle to a used car dealer from Chinchwad, the police officer said. "He also gave the names of two more men who helped in preparing a fake registration book of the vehicle and forged Aadhaar and PAN of the owner. We arrested the used car dealer, Thorat," he said.Balip said investigations found that the SUV was further given to a person from Solapur district. "We are in the process of recovering the vehicle. A search is on for the two people who prepared the fake documents," the police officer said.The four accused have been charged under sections 318 (cheating), 316 (criminal breach of trust), 336, and 338 (forgery of valuable security) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.