Ramdas S, CRN, April 6, 2011, 0900 hrs
On April 1, 2011, two prominent resellers in Chennai, and one in Bengaluru were raided by the police for their alleged involvement in reselling stolen laptops.
The laptops, imported by HP India, were stolen in transit after being cleared by the Delhi Customs on March 15, 2011. A case was registered for the same with the Delhi Crime Branch.
“We learnt that the police raided two resellers in Chennai on April 1 in connection with the stolen HP laptops. While one reseller has been let off after interrogation, the other has been arrested on suspicion of direct involvement in pilferage and reselling of stolen material,” informed J Ramesh, Partner, Ralco Synergy, Chennai. "Close to 400 and 500 laptops are believed to have been stolen. Some of the stolen material has been recovered during the raids."
Sridhar M, President, Association of Information Technology (AIT), Bengaluru confirmed the news of a prominent Bengaluru reseller being interrogated in the matter. "The reseller was questioned by the police on the issue, but to the best of my knowledge no action has been initiated against him. The reseller has claimed innocence and produced bills showing he sourced these products from a Chennai reseller, who I am told has been arrested.”
Meanwhile HP sources on condition of anonymity confirmed the developments. “There was a major pilferage of a laptop consignment, and we have learnt that these laptops were sold in Chennai and Bengaluru markets. The case is being investigated by the police.”
Though CRN has the names of resellers, we are withholding the names till a chargesheet is formally filed and the details are made public.
"We have always been advising our members to be cautious about the source of the material, especially when sold at less than market rates," said Sridhar of AIT. |