The Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Mumbai crime branch, investigating the alleged car financing and forgery racket, on Monday seized 14 DC Avanti cars along with 40 engines and another 19 high-end vehicles. The CIU, which has arrested India's top car designer Dilip Chhabria in the case, has conducted a search in Chhabria's manufacturing unit in Pune and seized the vehicles.
Last week, the CIU arrested Chhabria for running an alleged car financing racket. The police are claiming that loans had been procured on individual DC Avanti cars multiple times from Non Banking Financial Institute Companies (NBFC) after registering them in different states. The total fraud amount is reportedly over Rs 40 crore.
According to the officials, the investigation revealed that Dilip Chhabria Designs Private Limited, posing as customers for his own cars, procured loan from multiple NBFCs. So far, 127 DC Avanti cars have been manufactured and police suspect as many as 90 cars have been used for fraudulent financing.
The crime branch has also named Chhabria's son and sister along with his two company directors as wanted accused in the case. They also suspect the role of NBFC officials who availed the loan without due verification and that of the RTO officials across the country who helped in the registration of these cars.
API Sachin Vaze of the CIU said, "We have also identified another 68 cars other than DC Avanti cars that were used to procure loans in similar fashion. Most of these cars are high-end luxury cars."
