Case of the missing car

While moving from Pune to Bengaluru, Swati Dangi took help from a movers and packers company to shift her belongings. However, it’s been two months since she last saw her car

Swati Dangi is at her wit’s end as she is clueless about the whereabouts of her dream car, a Hyundai Verna Fludic worth Rs 15 lakh.

The 29-year-old software developer’s car and furniture, worth around Rs 18 lakh, have disappeared while shifting from Pune to Bengaluru with the help of a movers and packers company, just before the lockdown was announced.

Dangi, from Pune, had secured a cloud computing job at a reputed MNC in Bengaluru. She was supposed to join on the third week of March and had planned to shift all her belongings, including her black sedan, through Allied Movers and Packers, a Haryana-based company.

Before her flight on May 14, she had paid them a total of Rs 46,000 for everything, and ensured that her car was put in a container truck without causing any dent. And that was the last time she saw it.

She reached Bengaluru that night and stayed at a hotel in Mahadevapura before reporting to her new office in the same IT corridor.

Dangi was shocked to see text alerts on her phone from the FasTag affixed to her car from almost all the tolls, from Pune to Hyderabad and Bengaluru. “I called up the person from the movers and packers company and sought explanation as to how my FasTag was used at the tolls. He said the car was inside the truck and the Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) could have sensed it,” said Dangi, adding that she felt something was wrong. In her engineering courses, she read that RFID cannot be sensed or read, when covered by a metallic surface.

When she asked why her car was taken to Hyderabad, they said the container truck had to go there to deliver stuff belonging to another customer.

However, Dangi panicked when a week passed and the lockdown was announced on March 24. “Whenever I called, they would say the truck got stuck at various state borders due to the lockdown,” Dangi told Bangalore Mirror.

Whenever I called, they would say the truck got stuck at various state borders due to the lockdown– Swati Dangi

The person in touch with Dangi then insisted her to facilitate a Covid-19 police pass for her car and also their truck for smooth delivery of her belongings. Believing them, Dangi even approached the Whitefield DCP’s office and got the pass done. “Two months and five days gone, I don’t know where my car is,” Dangi said.

She then filed a complaint with the Mahadevapura police, after which the police inspector called up Himanshu Agarwal, owner and proprietor and Pradeep, manager, of Allied Movers and Packers, and insisted that they bring Dangi’s car to her.

Even when the inspector asked them the location of the car, they refused to divulge details and promised that the car would be returned to the customer by this weekend. The police have registered an FIR and booked Agarwal and Pradeep for cheating and criminal breach of trust. Further investigations are underway.

Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, Agarwal claimed that the customer’s car was stuck for two months due to the lockdown. He added that the customer’s car could have been shifted from one container truck to another at the tolls. “I will check with the transit staff. I have also assured the customer that if there has been some damage to her car, we will pay for the damages. Regarding the Covid-19 passes, the customer’s car have to be driven at least short distances in the city, so we had sought for it,” Himanshu said.