Cops seize 151 cars with banned BS-IV engines, arrest nine
Navi Mumbai Police on Wednesday claimed to have busted a pan-India racket with the arrest of nine persons who were involved in the illegal sale of cars with BS-IV engines. Talking to reporters, Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Bipin Kumar Singh said a team of the crime branch seized 151 cars worth Rs. 7.15 crore from the accused.
The gang operated pan-India: Singh
"The gang operated pan-India. The gang members used to purchase cars with BS-IV engines and change the number plates and chassis number," Singh said. "They would then get the registration of these vehicles done using forged documents and sell them in other states saying that they were damaged in floods," he added.
Prime accused had office and godown at Shirdhon near Panvel
"The prime accused in the case had set up their office and godown at Shirdhon near Panvel in Raigad district," the commissioner said. "The arrests were made from the end of January this year till the end of February," he said.
The accused were identified from various states across India
The accused were identified as Shaban Rafique Qureshi (32), Anam Siddiqui (42), Vasim Shaikh (31) all from Mumbai. Other accused that were named include, Manohar Jadhav (31), Prashant Shivararthi (26) both from Hyderabad, Gaurav Dembla (32) from Gurugram, Haryana, Rashid Khan (42) from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Chandrashekar Gadekar (31) from Pune, and Imran Chopda (38) from Ahmedabad.
An offense under various IPC sections has been registered
"A machine procured from Hyderabad to generate new chassis numbers for the cars was recovered from accused Chopda," Singh said. "An offense under various IPC sections, including 420 (cheating) and 465 (forgery), was registered against the accused at Panvel city police station," he said. "The police seized cars from different districts of Maharashtra where the gang members sold cars at cheap rates," he said.
Government enforced new emission standards BS-VI from April 1, 2020
Cars were also seized from other states- Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Telangana, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, and Punjab where they were being sold at cheap rates by the gang. To note, Bharat Stage emission norms are standards instituted by the government to regulate output of air pollutants from motor vehicles. The government enforced new emission standards BS-VI from April 1, 2020, replacing BS-IV.
