Kolkata: The Kolkata Police have busted an inter-state car theft racket and arrested four persons so far. A stolen SUV was recovered from Bihar, which had originally been taken from the Bhowanipore area in Kolkata.
According to the police, on June 3, Rajesh Singh lodged a complaint at the Bhowanipore Police Station. He reported that he had hired a driver for his SUV via an online application from May 29. However, on June 2, he discovered that the driver’s phone was switched off. Using the GPS device fitted in the SUV, Rajesh traced the car’s last known location to Asansol. Suspecting foul play, he filed a complaint against the driver, identified as Mohit Kumar.
During the investigation, police discovered that Mohit had stayed at a hotel in Kolkata using a fake ID. Further inquiry revealed that he had multiple accomplices. Based on the last GPS location, a police team was dispatched to Asansol, which eventually led them to Jamshedpur following a tip-off.
In the early hours of June 11, Mohit was arrested from the Sidhgora area of Jharkhand. Upon interrogation, he revealed that the mastermind behind the racket was Tushar Dutta, alias Bumba, alias Ritun, also a resident of Sidhgora. Dutta was arrested on June 16 from his hideout in the Baruipur area.
Police learned that Mohit had handed over the stolen vehicle to Dutta, who subsequently sold it to a third party through Avinash Singh of Shri Ji Motors, located in the Entally area of Kolkata. Avinash was arrested on June 17 and confessed to selling the stolen SUV to Raghuveer Kumar of Samastipur, Bihar.
Acting swiftly, police began tracking Raghuveer. With technical assistance and inputs from the Indian Railway Police, he was apprehended on June 21 from a compartment of the Raxaul Weekly Express at Barauni station. During interrogation, Raghuveer admitted to dealing in second-hand and stolen vehicles.
He disclosed that he had bought the SUV at a low price, altered its chassis and registration numbers with those from a similar model that had been severely damaged in an accident, and then sold it to another car dealer in the Sitamarhi area, near the Nepal border.
Following this lead, a raid was conducted at the office of Mahi Automobile, located at Car Bazar, Pupri, Sitamarhi. The stolen SUV was successfully recovered. It was found that the vehicle’s original registration number, WB 10 F-4934, had been changed to a Bihar registration number, BR-01 JD 7332.