Pune: A luxury car rental scam operating under the name ‘Palace Car Rental’ in Kharadi has been busted by the Pune police, leading to the arrest of two individuals and the seizure of 16 vehicles worth ₹1.64 crore.

The Kharadi police arrested the accused, identified as: Kundan Kailas Yadav (23, resident of Wadgaon Budruk, Pune; originally from Ratnagiri), Shirish Sanas alias Sandeep alias Saurabh Sunil Kakade (resident of Yerwada, Pune). The case came to light after a formal complaint was lodged by Prathamesh Dattatraya Nalawade (24, resident of Chilewadi, Satara).

The accused established a car rental service in Kharadi, attracting customers with promotional ads on social media. They acquired vehicles under monthly lease agreements but instead of returning them, they illegally sold them as demo cars.

Victim Prathamesh Nalawade had leased his car to them, unaware of their fraudulent intentions. The accused sold his vehicle to a buyer in Parbhani and shut down their office in Kharadi. When Nalawade realized he had been scammed, he approached the police. Further investigation revealed that a total of 16 cars had been fraudulently sold in this manner.

The breakthrough in the case came when police tracked down Yadav in Kharadi and took him into custody. During interrogation, he revealed details about the scam and his accomplice, Saurabh, who was already serving time in Yerawada Jail for another offense. The police formally arrested him in connection with this case as well. Using GPS tracking, authorities were able to trace and recover the stolen vehicles.