Hyderabad: Sleuths of the Hyderabad Central Crime Station arrested a BTech student and an upcoming dancer for stealing cars and transporting red sanders wood to Karnataka.
The accused transported red sanders to Kolar in Karnataka after collecting the wood from smugglers in Kadapa district. The prime accused Teja Mohan hired cars and when he was no longer able to pay for them, he stole them with the help of his friends. He contacted smugglers and transported wood in stolen cars.
Police said it was being transported to Chota Bhai, a notorious smuggler and don in Karnataka. Cars and red sanders wood worth '44 lakh were seized from them. The accused Chamarthi Teja Mohan Raju alias Teja alias Teju Verma, 25, an engineering student from CMR College, Medchal is a resident of Krishnanagar, Yousufguda, and a native of Railway Kodur mandal in Kadapa district and Talari Vinayaka alias Vinay, 26, an upcoming dancer and resident of Krishnanagar, was a native of Bangarupalyam mandal of Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh.
According to police, Teja came to the city to study. His father, a civil contractor from Kadapa district, sent him enough money, but he spent it lavishly. He would hire cars from travel agencies drive them himself. Recently, his parents met with an accident after which his father was bedridden. Due to this, Teja fell short of money.
He continued hiring the cars from Noor and Destination travel agencies in Toli Chowki. As his credit went up enormously, and he failed to clear his debts, he hired a Swift Dzire from Destination Travel agency four months ago. “His motive was to rent a car, sell and make money. By submitting fake documents, he took the car and tried to dispose it in Kadapa, but failed. He returned and gave the car to Vinayaka to dispose it and offered a share.” said Mr G. Pala Raju, DCP, detective department.
Teja also colluded with his roommates Prasad, and sent him along with Vinayaka to the travel agency again to hire an Innova car with an intention to dispose that off too. They informed the agent that Swift Dzire had broken down in Bengaluru and that they needed another vehicle to return. Their attempts to sell this vehicle also failed.
While Teja was on the lookout for alternative means of making easy money, he came in contact with Naresh, Nayeem and Jakeer of Kadapa district who were involved in red sanders smuggling. They promised him a good share for transporting red sanders in his vehicles. Prasad and Vinayaka gained the confidence of the travel agent by claiming that they needed a vehicle to bring back the car which had broken down in Bengaluru.
The accused collected wood from Naresh and transported it to Kolar in Karnataka. “Nayeem and Jakeer follow them on bikes and after reaching Kolar, the bikes are handed over to Teja and Prasad. The car carrying wood is sold to Chota Bhai from Hosur , a wanted smuggler and a don in Karnataka. The accused are paid about Rs 10,000 for each trip. The wood is then smuggled via Mangalore port to Saudi Arabia,” the DCP added.
Teja and Vinayaka were nabbed during vehicle checking at Bahadurpura. They revealed the crime during interrogation. A case was registered under relevant Sections of the IPC and Section 20(1) of the Indian Forest Act, 1967.
The Hyderabad police said they will take the help of the Andhra Pradesh state police to investigate the case and nab the other accused.
