Chennai: Man held for cheating car dealer of Rs 9 lakh in BMW deal

CHENNAI: The St Thomas Mount police arrested a 35-year-old man for allegedly cheating a used-car dealer of Rs 9 lakh after taking possession of a BMW car by paying only Rs 1 lakh as advance. The car was later recovered from Arani and two mobile phones were seized from the accused.

According to the complaint lodged by Haja Najimudeen (42) of Haji Street, Alandur, who is in the business of buying and selling used cars, the accused, Karthikeyan of Adambakkam, has been his customer for the past three years.

Karthikeyan agreed to buy a BMW from him for Rs 10 lakh and paid Rs 1 lakh as advance, following which Najimudeen handed over the car to him near the Kathipara flyover in Guindy on June 26.

Though he promised to pay the remaining Rs 9 lakh later, Karthikeyan allegedly failed to pay the balance despite repeated demands, Najimudeen claimed. He then tracked the location of the car using a mobile application and went to Arani, where he found that Karthikeyan had pledged the car with a man named Vignesh for Rs 5 lakh.

Based on Najimudeen's complaint, the crime wing of the St Thomas Mount police registered a case under cheating and other relevant sections, and launched an investigation.

A police team led by the crime wing inspector arrested Karthikeyan. The car was recovered from Arani and two mobile phones allegedly used in the offence were seized.

Officials said Karthikeyan already had four cheating cases against him. He was produced before a court on Thursday and remanded in judicial custody.