Fraudster hires cars from 15 businessmen, sells their vehicles and vanishes Au00a0seemingly harmless business venture went awry for 15 businessmen running travel agencies when a man who had hired their cars sold them off to other parties at low rates. <table style="width: 121px; height: 42px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="121" align="right" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img alt="" src="/imagedata/2010/sep/Fraud.jpg" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr> <td> Taken for a ride: Amit Jagtap, Iqbal Sheikh, Shakil Sheikh. Pic/Nikhil Ghorpade</td></tr></tbody></table>Instead of renting out these cars as per the contract, the alleged fraudster, Bharat Gaikwad of Vishrantwadi sold them. The matter came to light when Gaikwad, who is in his early 30s, stopped all communication with the businessmen. To make matters worse, the police refused to register a complaint because they said the businessmen had a contract with Gaikwad till 2011. Incommunicado Shakil Sheikh, a resident of Golf Course area, had rented his Innova to Gaikwad. He was shocked when he realised that Gaikwad was not answering his phone calls.u00a0 Shakil then contacted others who had rented out their cars to Gaikwad. He said all of them had similar stories to tell. Amit Jagtap, who had also rented out two cars to Gaikwad, said: "He gave me a fixed amount for the initial four months but suddenly stopped paying. When I tried to call him, his phone was switched off. Yesterday, he attended my call and told me he had sold my cars. I was shocked." Gaikwad's whereabouts are not known. The businessmen are also worried because Gaikwad had allegedly threatened Jagtap. "After we realised that we had been cheated we rushed to Vishrantwadi police station. We experienced total apathy from the police. Only after we met the DCP of Zone IV did things start rolling," said Iqbal Sheikh, who also had a similar experience. "Some of us traced our vehicles and we came to know that Gaikwad sold them off saying he worked for some bank as a recovery agent and wanted to sell the cars seized by the bank from defaulters. He had allegedly accepted a token amount from the buyers and asked them to pay the remaining amount once he handed over the original papers of the cars." DCP of Zone IV Sanjay Jadhav said: "I have asked the Vishrantwadi police to look into the matter and do the needful." Investigating Officer Police Inspector P R Thube said: "We are checking the documents of these businessmen who had rented out their cars to Gaikwad. Only after going through their applications will we register a complaint."

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Fraudster hires cars from 15 businessmen, sells their vehicles and vanishes

Gone in 60 seconds

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