DW BUREAU / CHANDIGARH The Punjab Police on Thursday said it has unearthed a scam in which scrapped cars were sold to people after tampering with their chassis numbers and registering the vehicles as legitimate. Three people, including a Mansa-based scrap-dealer, were arrested for fraudulently selling these cars, the police said. Deputy Inspector General of Police (Ropar Range) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said an authorised Maruti Suzuki dealer -- Atelier automobiles -- located at Bahadurgarh in Patiala sold at least 87 cars damaged due to flooding in the showroom premises to a scrap-dealer for Rs 85 lakh. The cars were brand new but officially categorised as "condemned" as they had been in a flooded showroom for some time, Bhullar said. These cars were sold to Mansa-based scrap-dealer Puneet Trading Company, owned by Puneet Goyal, on July 27, 2019. Goyal is on the run and police teams have launched a manhunt to arrest him, he said. Those arrested have been identified as Mansa residents Rajpal (father of Puneet Goyal), and Jaspreet Singh, alias Rinku, and Naveen Kumar of Bathinda. Police have booked Puneet Goyal and recovered 40 cars. DIG Bhullar said it came to light that these 87 vehicles, earmarked as scrapped and their chassis numbers erased, were fraudulently registered as legitimate vehicles in connivance with various RTA (Regional Transport Authority) offices of Punjab and other states. The role of officials of various RTA offices is also being investigated, he added. Senior Superintendent of Police, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ravjot Kaur said further investigations are on and the police were trying to recover the remaining cars. (editor@dailyworld.in)