Gang which targeted ‘rental’ cars arrested by Avadi police

CHENNAI: Avadi City Police arrested a gang, including a Chennai-based engineer, who rented cars through car renting platforms and absconded with them.

The cars were then sold to unassuming buyers in Southern Tamil Nadu, police said.

The arrested persons were identified as Aravindh (36) of Thirumangalam, Chennai, Muthuramalingam (30) and Arunachala Pandi (32) of Tirunelveli.

Police sources said that Avadi city police had received several complaints explaining how rental cars go missing using the same modus operandi after which the crime branch sleuths began investigations.

Aravindh had used a fake ID and fake driver’s license in the name of a north Indian and had booked a car for rent from one Krithika of Avadi last week.

After Aravind became unreachable over phone after five days, the car owner tried tracking the GPS and found that it was disabled. Realising that the car was stolen, the car owner filed a complaint with the Avadi police.

In April too, Avadi police had received a similar complaint about a rental car being stolen after which a special team was formed to trace the suspects.

A special team which was formed to trace the suspects found that Chennai based engineer, Aravindh was the mastermind along with his accomplices in Tirunelveli.

A police team rounded up the suspects in Samadanapuram in Tirunelveli on Tuesday. Investigations revealed that they were involved in stealing cars using similar modus operandi in the western suburbs of Chennai.

The three of them were produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody. Police recovered two stolen cars from the accused.