The police arrested the individual earlier this month, and then connected him to vehicle thefts and fraud cases across the state.
Representative image (Creative Commons)
An arrest made earlier this month has helped the Bengaluru City Police solve nine cases of vehicle theft and fraud across Karnataka.
Cops from the Vidyranyapura Police Station in the city on 8 June arrested a 30-year-old man identified as Manjunatha N alias OLX Manja alias Sunil Kumar after an individual named Adarsh filed a complaint against him.
Adarsh said he had advertised his Honda X Blade motorbike on the online market platform OLX when he was approached by Kumar, who showed interest in purchasing the bike.
Adarsh said Kumar stole the bike on the pretext of a taking test drive.
After his arrest, the police investigation unearthed the fact that Adarsh was just one of at least nine people Kumar had duped across the state of Karnataka.
The police said Kumar would befriend security guards and unemployed people and promise them jobs.
He would gain their confidence and get them to buy him SIM cards in their names, which he would then use.
Accused Manjunatha N posed as a car agent on OLX. (Supplied)
Kumar would reportedly buy cheap secondhand cellphones, insert these SIM cards into them, and use them to contact customers who were selling vehicles on OLX.
He would pose as a car dealer and offer them help to sell their vehicles at a better price.
He would convince them to take their advertisement down from the platform and pay them a small amount in advance for their vehicles, said the police.
He would then create fake profiles and email addresses to connect with buyers on the OLX website.
Without informing the original owners, he would advertise their vehicles for a lower price and meet the buyers.
Assuring the buyers he was preparing the legal documents to transfer ownership of the vehicle, he would escape with the money.
On a few occasions, he would meet sellers and steal vehicles from them on the pretext of taking them for test drives. He would then change the number plates of the vehicles, officials told South First.
The police seized three cars, a two-wheeler and various fake number plates from the accused. They also recovered five mobile phones that were apparently used to commit the crimes Kumar is accused of.
The cases registered against Kumar are in nine police stations across Karnataka, including the Hassan and Mysuru districts.
In all these instances, the police have registered cases under Section 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the IPC.
Jan 10, 2023
Dec 11, 2022
Nov 04, 2022
Oct 30, 2022
Aug 09, 2022
Jul 22, 2022
