Hyderabad: The thief, who took an Audi Q3 out for a test drive from a Banjara Hills dealership and drove away with it, has several cases of theft against him, cops have revealed.
The suspect, Samanasa Venkata Ramana, had earlier escaped from police custody twice was a fugitive. After a two-week manhunt, police traced him to Guntur and arrested him, only to discover that he had six non-bailable warrants pending against him. He was also a betting agent.
At the Banjara Hills dealership on October 27, Ramana had claimed that he was a doctor with the Apollo Hospital before fleeing with the test drive car.
Cops were under the assumption the theft was commited by a local criminal. Investigations proved otherwise.
Ramana, a native of Karapa, East Godavari District, has duped hundreds of people across the country by claiming he was a doctor and the son of a prominent politician.
The investigation found that he has been involved in over 83 cases across the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamilnadu.
“He was arrested by Arundalpet police in Guntur. But during transit, he gave the police the slip and was absconding,” said D. Uday Kumar Reddy, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Banjara Hills. He has stolen over 40 cars and expensive bikes. He had escaped with a Renault Duster from a Visakhapatnam dealership and once made away with a Royal Enfield motorcycle from KPHB, police said.
Officials added that Ramana would claim he was the son of an MP or an MLA during his meetings with businessmen. He would then convince them to lend him money for a real estate project before cheating them.
“He was also organising illegal horse race betting and cricket betting in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tela-ngana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and spent the money lavishly,” the ACP said.
Cops said the accused was well aware of police tactics and used 47 sim cards.
On October 27, Ramana had walked into a pre-owned car dealership in Filmnagar and introduced himself as Gautam Reddy, a doctor at Apollo Hospital. He convinced the dealer that he wished to buy an Audi car and requested for a test drive.
The dealer, J. Narendra Kumar, allowed him to take the car for a test drive and sent his aide, Kashi to accompany the ‘doctor’. The suspect drove the car with the dealer’s associate for a while. When they reached Apollo Hospital, he requested Kashi to step out of the vehicles saying he wanted to show the car to his colleagues. After Kashi got off, the suspect drove off with the vehicle.
