It was high drama at a Vikhroli court last morning, as Maniesh Sethi, the mastermind of a multi-crore rent-a-car con surrendered after duping nearly 600 people. One of his defrauded clients spotted Sethi in court and informed the others. In no time, angry victims gathered at the court, but the police didn't let anyone in, and beefed up security while taking him back to lock-up, to avoid any trouble.

"My plans failed," Maniesh Sethi told the Vikhroli police soon after the Metropolitan Magistrate Court remanded him to police custody until March 16. But Sethi had no response when an officer said, "If you have hundreds of cars lying in the parking lot and if they do not ply on roads, the plan is bound to fail."