Hyderabad police have arrested a city-based web designer on Friday, June 30, for his involvement in two cases of luxury car theft. The accused, identified as B Arun Reddy (29), was masquerading as a valet parking staff member using a dummy page during singer Badshah's musical event at Boulder Hills on June 24. It was during this event that he stole a BMW Z4 car belonging to a woman attendee.
Madhapur Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Shilpa Valli provided further details of the case, stating, "Based on CCTV footage, the police located the stolen car parked at Sheraton Hotel and awaited the arrival of the accused. Arun Reddy was apprehended, and the stolen car was seized." DCP Valli further disclosed that the accused had a penchant for luxury cars and was previously involved in another car theft case. Investigation revealed that he had employed the same modus operandi in May last year to steal a BMW car from the Zero 40 pub in Hyderabad. "The accused had changed the number plate to a Jharkhand registration and parked the stolen vehicle at his residence, informing his family that he had purchased a pre-owned car," added the police official.
Elaborating on the accused's method of operation, DCP Valli said, "The accused targeted areas frequented by affluent individuals. He would strike up conversations with them at busy parking lots' valet stations, ultimately persuading them to hand over their car keys. Once in possession of the keys, he would enter the customer's information on a fake valet parking page displayed on his mobile phone and drive away with the stolen vehicle. To further evade detection, he would replace the stolen cars' license plates with new ones after parking them in isolated locations."