12, including general manager of car showroom booked for fraud worth Rs 86.8L

The Kharghar cops have booked 12 people, including the general manager of a car showroom, for fraud worth Rs 86.8 lakh. The police said expensive cars would be booked by customers and the general manager would take the full payment for the same, but never make the delivery. That’s because he would make a booking in the name of another customer for a car of less value, and pocket the difference. These other customers, who got the cars for free, have also been made accused in the case. A Gujarat-based man is the kingpin in the matter, said the police. He allegedly brought ‘buyers’ to the showroom, and with the help of the general manager sold the cars to them. The police have found that at least 10 cars were sold in the fraud.

Inquiry reveals
In December 2021, a woman complained to the Kharghar police stating that she had been cheated by the Kamal Hyundai showroom. She had booked a vehicle there in July 2021 and made the payment in August of Rs 14 lakh for a Creta. But she neither received the car nor got a refund.

When an inquiry was conducted by showroom officials, General Manager Balan Pillai told the management that Vivek Dave, an agent, had made him an accomplice in the fraud.

The showroom refunded the money to the woman to end the matter, but the general manager and the agent, Vivek Dave, stopped communicating with its officials.

Then the showroom started getting calls from other buyers who claimed to have booked cars and paid the money for them, but didn’t get the delivery. After an internal inquiry, it was found that 6 people including General Manager Pillai and Dave had defrauded the showroom of Rs 47,66,652.

Bigger racket
“As the company kept checking the documents, payments and delivery receipts, they found that the scam by Pillai and Dave was biggerand involved a total of R86.80 lakh. They found bookings done from January 2021 to August 2021 were fraudulent as cars were not delivered to persons who supposedly booked them, but cars of lower value were delivered to some other person for free,” said an official from the Kharghar police station.

According to the police, Dave would bring a buyer to the showroom and get him/her do make the payment. With the help of GM Pillai, another car of a less value would be booked in the name of another person, and it would be delivered to them for free. While the other accused got the cars for free, Dave and Pillai pocketed the difference money of booking and actual car purchase.

“We have registered a case against 12 people, all of whom are at large. They have been booked under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. We need to recover the cars. We urge people to report to the police if they have been cheated the same way,” said Sandipan Shinde, senior inspector of Kharghar police station.

mid-day tried to contact officials of Kamal Hyundai but got no response.

The complainant Prem Changlani, the consultancy manager of the showroom, did not speak.