The city crime branch has arrested two persons for allegedly selling forged registration certificate (RC) smart cards and seized 25 cards from them. The two, posing as RTO agents, promised immediate delivery of the RC smart cards.
Acting on information, a crime branch officer approached the two with a bogus customer. The accused identified as Jayesh Mehta, 50, and Avinash Borkar, 40, charged him Rs 10,000 for a new RC smart card and, as promised, gave him the card the very next day. When the card was verified with the Regional Transport Office (RTO), they confirmed it to be duplicate after which the two were arrested.
According to the crime branch officer, Mehta, posing as an RTO agent, promised immediate delivery of RC smart cards that generally takes a month. During interrogation, it was revealed that Mehta used to procure discarded RC smart cards either from other RTO agents or through someone from the RTO office. Later, the cards were washed with a chemical solution and Borkar used to print the new details as required, said an officer.
Since the duplicate cards were made out of original cards, which carried the water mark. It was difficult to detect the difference. The possibility that these cards were used to sell stolen cards could not be ruled out, said a crime branch officer. During their search operation, 18 RC smart cards and another 7 blank cards were recovered.
The two have similar cases registered against them at Samta Nagar, Bhandup and Tilak Nagar police station, said an officer.
