Man held for selling over dozen expensive cars on site
If your car is stolen, do check if it is being sold on OLX app. The Delhi Police on Thursday claimed to have arrested a man involved in selling more than a dozen luxury cars stolen from various localities in the national Capital. Police said an FIR will be registered against the OLX management.
Active since 2014, the accused had succeeded in selling high-end cars by posting their advertisements on OLX app. However, he ran out of his luck a few days ago. Suspecting something fishy after the accused asked for a nominal price of an expensive car, a buyer informed police which swung into action.
East Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Jasmeet Singh said complainant Ravi Saxena approached us on July 8 stating that he saw an advertisement related to sale of Volkswagen Polo at a very nominal price, to which he responded and purchased the car for `1,70,000 from one Ankit Pruthi, the accused.
“Ankit provided the complainant with photocopies of registration certificate (RC) and insurance and assured him to deliver the original after transfer of the registration in the name of the complainant. But despite repeated requests from the complainant, Ankit did not provide him with the original documents.
“Suspecting something was amiss, Saxena approached the State Transport Authority (STA) and he was befuddled to know that the said car registration number belonged to another car model ‘Skoda Laura’,” said the DCP.
“Having realised that he had bought a stolen car, Saxena asked Ankit to return his money and take the car but Ankit tried to convince the complainant that it was genuine. After a few months, the accused switched off his phone,” said the DCP.
“Acting on the complaint an FIR was registered. During the course of investigation, it was revealed that there is a gang operating in Delhi and Rajasthan involved in entrapping unsuspecting buyers of stolen luxury cars on very cheap price on OLX platform,” said the DCP.
“A police team was tasked to collect tip-off about the gang-members which led to the hideout of kingpin Ankit. On September 14, a trap was laid and Ankit was arrested in Jaipur. He had changed his name from Ankit Pruthi to Ankit Arora to hide his identity. Originally from Delhi, he had acquired a Jaipur address,” said the DCP.
“Ankit confessed that he used to change his mobile number after every successful sale. We have recovered three cars and trying to locate other cars. Ankit confessed to have sold over a dozen
luxury cars using OLX app. Police recovered ‘Volkswagon Vento’ and ‘KUV-100’ from Sikar in Rajasthan. These cars were stolen from Delhi’s Hauz Khas and Mehrauli area,” said the DCP.
A senior police official involved in the investigation said they are sending notices to the OLX people to join investigation as they have failed to answer many queries.
“It amounts to complicity as the OLX management was allowing the advertisement of stolen cars without applying due diligence. How can they allow an auto-thief to sell stolen cars by using their platform and then feign ignorance”, said the police official, adding that an FIR is being registered against the OLX management and the ambit of the probe is being expanded to ascertain what other stolen item were been sold by crooks to the people by using this popular App.
