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NEW DELHI: A civil engineer has been arrested after he stole an Audi car that he himself had sold to an artist . He managed to drive away in it by using a duplicate key just after taking the final cheque from the victim near the zoo .

Manoj Singhal has been arretsed from his hometown, Kashipur, in Uttarakhand and the car has been seized, said DCP (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal.

On March 15, Sarfarazuddin complained at the Hazrat Nizamuddin police station that his Audi, parked near the zoo, was stolen while he had gone to meet Singhal.

Sarfarazuddin, who had planned to rent it out to a cab operator, had contacted Singhal from an advertisement and the deal was fixed at Rs 17,50,000. The victim took the car after paying Rs 50,000 in cash and then transferred Rs 14 lakh online. The car was to be transferred in his name after the final payment of Rs 3 lakh.

On the day of the incident, the victim gave Singhal a blank cheque and asked him to transfer the ownership. However, on returning to the parking spot, he found the car missing. On approaching Singhal again, he was threatened and told not to call again.

When Singhal got to know about the police case, he withdrew Rs 6 lakh using Sarfarazuddin’s blank cheque and registered a counter case against the victim, saying that the cheque was dishonoured by the bank. He also tried to prove that the car was stolen by Sarfarazuddin himself.

The police statrted suspecting Singhal following some contradictory statements. He had also refused to join the investigations second time, citing personal reasons. He has been charged with theft and criminal breach of trust.

