Trio arrested for selling rented laptops online

The Byappanahalli police arrested three people who procured laptops for rent in bulk and sold them on online commercial sites. Police seized 97 devices worth Rs 45 lakh.

Pasha, 25, a resident of Kammanahalli, Mohiddin Qureshi, 26, living in Veerannapalya, and Prateek Nagarkar, 36, from Hennur Bande were arrested based on a complaint by a private company, which accused the trio of disappearing after taking laptops from them on rent.

A senior police officer said the trio created fake companies in various locations and took laptops on rent for office use. They subsequently advertised on social media saying their company is under loss and they would like to sell their laptops. They would follow it up with the sales providing no information to the company from which they rented the devices.

Recently, the owner of a company that gave them laptops on rent filed a complaint, following which Byappanahalli police registered a case.

Following their arrest, it has come to the police’s knowledge that the accused have dozens of cases against them in Madiwala, Sampigehalli, Ashok Nagar, RT Nagar, Marathahalli, JP Nagar and Hyderabad police stations.

Engineering dropouts

Investigation revealed that the accused are engineering dropouts and had failed to get jobs. Initially, they had set up an IT company and took laptops on rent. But the business flopped and they closed down the venture. They sold the laptops taken on rent and made huge money.

They followed it up by creating fake companies and selling rented laptops. Byappanahalli police are looking for one more accused, Ashwath, who is on the run.