The Delhi Police has claimed to have busted a racket in which 600 new mobile phones worth Rs1 crore were stolen from the IGI Airport and were sold to customers through Flipkart, an e-commerce company.
Police have recovered 209 of those phones. Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI) DK Gupta told The Pioneer that they have written a letter to the CEO of Flipkart at their Ansari Road office seeking information regarding buying and selling of the mobile phones through the website and the App.
In a statement Flipkart said, “Flipkart is a digital marketplace that helps sellers connect with customers across the country. Each and every one of our 40,000+ sellers are mandated to adhere to stringent guidelines. Any exception to, or violation of this code of conduct is taken very seriously. We enforce a strict policy of zero tolerance against unscrupulous sellers who sell products that are fake, stolen, or in violation of any applicable law of the land.”
The accused persons have been identified as Raju Singh (31), Sunil Jain (40), Gaurav Mittal (44), Jitender Girotra alias Johny (28), Harender Singh (42) and Ravi (26). Three of them-Sunil, Jitendra and Harendra own three separate shops of mobile phones in central Delhi’s Karol Bagh.
The accused had stolen 600 HTC mobile phones kept in the two pallets, from the IGI’s Cargo terminal in July, this year, said police. The consignments had come from Hong Kong and was to be delivered at NPS Telecom Pvt. ltd., Okhla, through Custom House Agent i.e. M/S SVS logistic Private limited, HariNagar-New Delhi, the DCP said.
During investigation it was revealed that some of the stolen phones are being used in cities such as Mysore, Manglore, Bangluru, Mumbai, Ahmdabad, Mahasamad, Hyderabad, Jalandhar, Delhi and Chandigarh, said police adding that during investigation it was found that the mobiles were purchased from Flipkart with customers showing receipts and bills of purchase.
A dedicated police team started working on the available leads and one Raju Singh from Rajasthan, who was scouting for customers for the stolen phones was arrested on the basis of reliable information, said police.
On his interrogation role of one Narender, who turned out to be the mastermind and drives vehicles plying at cargo terminal came to light, has, however, not been traced yet, said police.