BENGALURU: A Rolls-Royce car that once belonged to superstar Amitabh Bachchan was among seven vehicles seized by Karnataka’s transportation department on Sunday while driving around town to check the registration papers of luxury cars
The vehicles were confiscated by the transport department because the vehicle documents were not available.
“We don’t know who it belongs to. They do not have any documents (drivers). As a result, the vehicles were confiscated, ”said N Shiva Kumar, Karnataka Traffic Commissioner.
According to the Motor Vehicle Act, vehicle owners are obliged to obtain a new registration certificate and pay the state vehicle tax if a vehicle registered in another state remains in the state for more than 12 months. The owner can claim vehicle tax reimbursement from the state in which it was originally registered.
“Some of these cars had Maharashtra or Pondicherry license plates. These cars did not pay road tax in Karnataka … (resulting in a huge loss for the treasury, ”he added.
The special audit was carried out near the UB City shopping mall, a popular shopping destination in Bengaluru.
Aside from the Rolls Royce, officials said the other cars seized on Sunday are an Audi, Range Rover, Porsche, Mercedes Benz and Jaguar. The vehicles were kept in the Road Transport Office (RTO) in Nelamangala on the outskirts of Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru.
Of the seven, only one car owner has so far reported the documents and the documents presented are being checked.
Karnataka’s Additional Transportation Commissioner (Enforcement) Narendra Holkar said the person driving the Rolls Royce could not produce the relevant documents, only received a letter allegedly signed by Amitabh Bachchan stating that the vehicle was to him was sold
Vahan (the Government of India database) does not give any details about the vehicle. “So we confiscated the vehicle to check the driver’s claims,” said Holkar.
On Monday, a person who identified himself as a broker told Babu that he bought the car from the superstar in 2019 for ₹6 million.
“The family uses the car on Sundays and when they came out (on Sunday) the department confiscated the vehicle. In my case, the driver was unable to provide the original documents. The documents are at home and I told them I would take them to the RTO, ”said Babu.
Babu said the vehicle ownership documents were not transferred to his name from the actor when he bought the car.
Officials said vehicle owners could face heavy fines if they fail to provide the required documentation.
“The due process is being followed. If someone breaks the rules, they will be fined and if they are unable to provide documents, there is an option to auction these vehicles. We have conducted auctions like this in the past, ”said a senior member of the department.
Luxury cars were last found under the scanner of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Karnataka Police in Mangaluru in March this year when they investigated a case of alleged middlemen selling luxury cars in violation of legal proceedings.