*12 high -end cars seized in loan fraud case rotting at Mumbai crime branch office for 3.5 years*

Twelve high-end cars seized by the Mumbai police's crime branch in a loan fraud case have been rotting outside one of its offices in Kurla West for over three-and-a-half years.

The cars, including an Audi Q5, two Hyundai Cretas, and a Mahindra XUV300, were purchased fraudulently by obtaining bank loans using forged documents. Despite several reminders to banks and companies that had financed the loans, no action has been taken, according to police officials.

The 12 cars are part of 23 fraudulently purchased vehicles worth around ₹7.8 crore in total. The crime branch busted an inter-state racket in January 2021, in which nine people were arrested. The cars were seized from the gang in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Indore.

To ensure that the cars do not rot while in their possession, police officials said they investigated the matter expeditiously and filed all required papers with the court so as not to delay the legal process for releasing the cars from seizure. "In such cases, we always conduct a speedy investigation and submit all required papers to the court so that the cars can be handed over to their rightful owners at the earliest and reduce the depreciation to the extent possible," said police inspector Ghanshyam Nair from the crime branch.

After being informed by the police, three private banks-ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank-that had financed 11 of the 23 cars immediately approached the esplanade metropolitan magistrate court and got the vehicles released from police attachment.

Out of the remaining 12, five-one Audi Q5, two Hyundai Creta, one Maruti Ciaz and a Mahindra XUV300-were financed by a nationalised bank.

"Despite reminders, the branch manager did not bother to even check on the vehicles," said a police officer. "Two Mercedes Benzes financed by the company's own finance branch are still lying outside the unit office. Their officers are pursuing the matter in the court, and it looks like they will soon get possession of the two luxury cars," the officer said.

One of the unclaimed cars, a MINI Cooper, was even handed over by the court to Ramsajeevan Maurya, one of the accused. This was after the Vile Parle branch of the Punjab National Bank did not turn up before the court to oppose his plea asking for the car to be returned to him, despite repeated requests by the police.

The court waited for around a month before handing over the vehicle to Maurya, said a police officer who is part of the investigating team. HT reached out to officials from Punjab National Bank and its PR agency, but didn't get a response until the time of going to press.

The other accused in the case were identified as Dharambeer Sharma, 31; Mrigesh Navidhar, 42; Sainath Ganji alias Sandeep Borate, 26; Pradeep Maurya, 46; Dilshaad Ansari, 44; Vijay Verma, 39; Salam Khan, 42; and Prasad Ravindra Mhadik, 24.

The fraud came to light in November 2020 when bank officers seized two cars, a Maruti Suzuki XL6 Zeta and a Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, from Maujjam Mohammad Satvilkar, 36, a Kurla resident.

Satvilkar, who was shocked to learn that the cars were mortgaged with banks, tried contacting the person from whom he bought the cars, Dharambeer Sharma, but his phone was unreachable. He eventually approached the crime branch, after which a case was registered at the Kurla police station in January 2021. During the investigation, the police contacted several banks and, after questioning at least 100 people, zeroed in on 23 cars.

The police found that Dharambeer Sharma had worked in the loans department of HDFC Bank for five years. Before he quit his job in 2018, a person named Waseem Shaikh had given his documents to Sharma for taking a vehicle loan but eventually decided against it. Sharma then bought two cars, the XL6 Zeta and Ertiga, in May 2020 on loan from ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank by using Waseem's documents. He sold both cars to Satvilkar in August 2020 for ₹9.85 lakh and then stopped repaying the loans.

The gang used forged documents, such as Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, bank statements, income tax returns, and other documents, to obtain vehicle loans. They would even rent a house for two to three months until the loan verification was done, while other members of the gang identified people who could pay in cash by mortgaging the brand-new cars.

The gang mortgaged cars at around half the price and borrowed money from private lenders, mostly businesspersons, under the pretext of urgent requirements, like a sister's marriage or a medical emergency in the family. They assured their lenders that they would continue repaying the loans, but after paying two to three EMIs, they would simply change their mobile numbers to ensure that neither bank officials nor the lenders could trace them.

Ramsajeevan Maurya had mortgaged two cars, a Toyota Innova Crysta and the MINI Cooper, to a Nagpur-based businessman for ₹12 lakh and ₹15 lakh, respectively. The police seized both cars in January 2021 and arrested Maurya. After getting bail in seven months, Maurya filed a petition in court to get both the cars back. After the due process, the Esplanade court passed an order in August 2021 that both cars were supposed to be handed over to the respective banks from where the accused had taken the loan, said a police official.

While the Innova Crysta was handed over to ICICI Bank in September 2021 after the private bank approached the court, Punjab National Bank did not bother to respond to Maurya's plea despite several attempts to intimate the branch manager. The court waited a month, before eventually handing over the car to Maurya in October 2021 as the bank failed to appear before the court, said the police official.

"We have seized one more Audi Q5, valued at ₹65 lakh, for which a loan of ₹45 lakh was sanctioned by Punjab National Bank. The main accused, who bought the Audi Q5 on forged documents, is still wanted in the case. The accused had mortgaged the car to a Mira Road-based businessman," added the official. The accused had paid 10% of the total amount as a down payment, along with two or three EMIs and had maintained his CIBIL score temporarily.

All the accused are out on bail now.