Guwahati: A man was arrested on Friday from the city’s Bhetapara area for allegedly operating an organised vehicle fraud racket in Guwahati. Hatigaon Police Station officers said the accused has been involved in the activity since 2023.Anjad Brahma, the officer-in-charge (OC) of Hatigaon PS, said the accused has been identified as Rupjyoti Das, a resident of the Kamrup district’s Kamalpur area.
The accused used fake identities to rent vehicles from owners from different parts of Assam and later sold them to unsuspecting third parties from various states. “The person used to identify himself as a manager of a private bank and rented vehicles claiming they were for official bank use. However, he later sold those vehicles to people in different states, falsely representing them as vehicles obtained through finance auctions,” the OC said.“He has cheated many owners and has taken more than 150 vehicles. We have recovered 12 vehicles till now. Of these, eight were from Arunachal Pradesh, and four were from Assam,” the officer said.The officer said Das used to pay monthly rent for five to six months. However, the payments were subsequently stopped, and the owners were unable to establish contact with him. Many owners had rented out their vehicles despite having several months of EMI payments still pending on those vehicles.“On Jan 1, we received the first complaint, which was filed by Manju Goswami, a resident of Nazira town in Assam’s Sivasagar district. Following this, an investigation was initiated, leading to his arrest. The investigation is currently ongoing, as we are trying to recover the remaining vehicles and also determine whether Das acted alone or was assisted by others,” Brahma said.A case has been registered against Das at Hatigaon PS under Sections 61(2), 316(2), 319(2), and 318(4) of the BNS Act. He will be produced before the local court on Saturday. Police said they would seek a 14-day police remand.
