Bengaluru: A car rented out through an aggregator allegedly disappeared after a customer took the vehicle on a 12-hour booking, leaving the owners scrambling to track it down.According to a complaint filed by Ranjith CA, a resident of Hoskote, the white Hyundai i20, purchased jointly by him and his friend Dikshith in Jan this year, had been attached to the Zoomcar platform for rentals.On Aug 11, a Zoomcar customer identified as Pravinth V booked the car for 12 hours. According to Ranjith, Pravinth handed over copies of his driving licence and Aadhaar card, promising the owners that he would return the vehicle soon, before driving away in the car bearing registration number KA-50-ME-7927.After the 12-hour rental period ended, Dikshith contacted Pravinth, who said he needed the car for another day. He reportedly promised to return the car the following morning along with Rs 3,500 in rental charges. Trusting him, Dikshith closed the Zoomcar trip.The next morning, Aug 12, Dikshith called Pravinth, who said the car had been stolen and claimed that he had already lodged a complaint at Hebbagodi police station. The owners then checked the GPS installed in the vehicle, only to find that it had been switched off.When Dikshith contacted Pravinth again, he allegedly claimed that he had handed the car over to another person and would return it once that person brought it back. However, the vehicle was not returned.Ranjith alleged that Pravinth and others had cheated them and deliberately damaged or disabled the vehicle’s GPS system.After attempts to trace the car using its last known location failed, Devanahalli police registered a case. A senior officer said the documents provided by the accused are genuine and he is from Salem in Tamil Nadu. Efforts are on to trace him, he said.
