Pune police crack six-month-old carjacking case

PUNE: An informer’s lead about a man changing the registration number of his car and parking it in someone else’s premises instead of his own led the city police’s crime branch to the arrest of two men involved in a carjacking at Lonkar Vasti in Loni Kalbhor, back on December 3 last year.
Sunil Shendge, a tourist car operator from Chembur in Mumbai, had lodged a complaint with the Loni Kalbhor police, stating that two men hired his car from Pune railway station and robbed him by threatening him with a sickle.
Senior police inspector (SPI) Hemant Patil from crime branch (unit V) on Tuesday told TOI, “Around a fortnight ago, an informer tipped us off about Loni Kalbhor resident Suraj Pawar, who was in possession of a car and had changed the number plate from a Mumbai to Pune registration. The informer also said that Suraj was parking the vehicle on the premises of some other person. We grew suspicious about this and detained Suraj (31) for questioning on May 13. He admitted that he and his friend Somnath Pawar (35) from Junnar were involved in the crime. We arrested them and seized the car.”
The crime branch officer further said, “The arrested duo has no criminal antecedents. They admitted that they had committed the robbery to use the car for sightseeing. They travelled to various districts in Maharashtra after the incident. We recovered Shendge’s car worth Rs6.20 lakh and phone worth Rs20,000, which was used by Suraj’s father; we also found the sickle used in the crime. The duo spent the cash having fun. We have transferred their custody to the Loni Kalbhor police,” the SPI added.