The Arera Hills police personnel have executed a major crackdown on an organised inter-state vehicle fraud syndicate by arresting five more active members. This latest round of arrests brings the total number of suspects in police custody to six. Law enforcement officers have successfully recovered 20 luxury cars, valued at approximately Rs 3 crore, which the gang had hidden across various locations in Sehore and neighbouring districts. The elaborate racket came to light following a formal complaint lodged on June 13 by Gaurav Kushwaha, a 24-year-old resident of Vidisha currently residing in the Aishbagh area of Bhopal. Kushwaha reported that Shailesh Joshi had rented his personal vehicle under the pretext of business operations but subsequently sold it to a third party without his authorisation or consent. Acting on this complaint, the Arera Hills police registered a case under Section 316(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and initiated a targeted investigation. A dedicated police team traced and apprehended the prime suspect, Shailesh Joshi, near the Narera Shankara area on Ayodhya Bypass.

 

Under intense interrogation, Joshi confessed to his involvement in the racket, disclosing how he collaborated with several accomplices to lease vehicles under false pretences and subsequently sell them. His confession led to the drafting of a detailed police memorandum, exposing the wider network of the syndicate. Six arrested as gang confesses to selling forty cars: Using the intelligence gathered during Joshi’s interrogation, police teams conducted raids and arrested five accomplices from Sehore. The arrested suspects have been identified as Waheed Ali, Jayendra Joshi alias Kittu, Arun Nath, Raja Meena, and Rohan Khan. During subsequent questioning, the accused confessed to having illegally sold or mortgaged a total of 40 vehicles, prompting the police to launch an aggressive operation to recover the remaining 20 vehicles. Additional Commissioner of Police Shailendra Singh Chauhan stated that the syndicate primarily targeted travel operators and individual car owners by promising lucrative rental returns.

 

Once they secured physical possession of the vehicles, the accused forged sale agreements, masqueraded as the legitimate owners, and sold or mortgaged the cars to unsuspecting buyers. Several vehicles were reportedly sold off completely without any legal documentation to evade immediate detection.