Sonbhadra (UP), May 23 (PTI) A man was arrested here on Friday for allegedly selling more than a dozen rented trucks, with an estimated value of Rs 4 crore, to scrap dealers, police said.

The arrest was made in the early hours of Friday in the Robertsganj police station area.

According to Station House Officer (SHO) Satyendra Rai, the accused has been identified as Abhishek Yadav, a resident of Niwari district in Madhya Pradesh.

He said Yadav used Facebook and local brokers to contact truck owners from various districts in Uttar Pradesh. He lured them by offering rent higher than market rates and signed rental agreements after paying an advance, which further convinced them of his credibility.

Rai said Yadav also paid commissions to brokers, encouraging them to connect him with more truck owners. Once the trucks were acquired, he sold them to a scrap dealer in Nagpur for Rs 5 lakh each.

The trucks were rented from multiple places — two from Jhansi, two from Prayagraj, five from Sonbhadra, seven from Kanpur Dehat, all in Uttar Pradesh; and three from Sidhi in Madhya Pradesh. The estimated total value of the sold trucks is around Rs 4 crore, according to police.

Acting on a tip-off, police arrested Yadav from the Salakhan area under Chopan police station limits. He has been booked under sections 316 (5) (criminal breach of trust) and 318 (4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), officials said.

Further legal proceedings are underway, they said. PTI COR KIS DIV DIV