Premier Mercedes dealer dupes businessman with used car, forged papers

Kolkata: In an unprecedented incident, Benchmark Interkrafts, a well-known dealer of premium Mercedes Benz cars, has sold a second-hand vehicle to a buyer.

The owner of the car subsequently moved the court in Purulia. The Judicial Magistrate 4th court asked the police to conduct an inquiry into the case. The police conducted an inquiry and the report submitted to the court stated: "From the investigation as conducted pursuant to the order of this Ld Court, it is found that the complainant company was duped by the accused persons."

On January 10, the accused persons except two were present in the court and prayed for bail. The next hearing date has been fixed on February 27.

Bharat Hitech (cements) Pvt Ltd had placed an order to buy a premium Mercedes Benz car worth Rs 32 lakh for the company's managing director N C Agarwal. The order was placed in June 2017.

The dealer failed to supply the car and in November informed the buyer that the delivery was getting delayed as the vehicle would be imported from Germany.

The buyer then informed the dealer that because of the inordinate delay it wanted to scrap the deal as the company was paying EMI for the vehicle from July, 2017.

Finally in December, the dealer delivered the vehicle bearing registration number WB02AL4646. However, shortly after getting the vehicle it developed a problem and the managing director had a narrow escape when a tyre of the vehicle ruptured.

After a few days, some friends of the owner who saw the vehicle told him that the car appeared to be a used one. Meanwhile, police stopped the car one day and asked the owner to accept the waiver scheme offered by Kolkata Police and clear the fines due for the car.

When the owner told the police that the car had not flouted any traffic rule, the policemen on duty told him that the vehicle had flouted traffic rules in June and cases were pending against it. When the owner told the police that he had bought the vehicle in December, police advised him to go to the Public Vehicles Department and get the vehicle's documents checked.

Upon subsequent inquiry, the owner found out that the dealer had earlier sold the car to Shanti Kumar Surana. The dealer had then forged the documents, including the tax token.

An irate Agarwal then wrote a letter to Mercedes Benz, Germany and the matter was informed to the state Transport department as well.

It may be recalled that the same dealer had earlier duped Siddhartha Ray, who had purchased a vehicle from them. The vehicle had developed a snag soon after purchase. However, no action could be taken against the dealer as the car had already been sold.