KOCHI: Perumbavoor police have booked a Mulanthuruthy native who allegedly had his Bharat stage IV (BS4) motorcycle registered in Himachal Pradesh using fake documents and address for use in Kerala. The case was registered based on a complaint by the Ernakulam motor vehicles department (MVD) enforcement wing against the vehicle owner and a Kochi dealer who sold him the vehicle.
The two-wheeler was intercepted by MVD during a vehicle check in Perumbavoor area last month. “Verification of the registration details revealed that the motorcycle did not comply with BS6 emission norms. The countrywide ban on registration of BS4 motorcycles came into effect on April 1, 2020. The confiscated vehicle was registered in 2021. MVD officials suspect a major scam involving BS4 vehicles illegally registered in Himachal Pradesh. To initiate criminal proceedings and conduct a detailed probe, a police complaint was lodged, on the basis of which a case has been registered. We have initiated a probe,” a police officer said.
Police have charged offences ranging from forgery, cheating, and violation of the Motor Vehicles Act. The dealer has also been named an accused. An MVD officer said that when details were collected from the Parivahan website, the vehicle was found to have been registered in Indora, Himachal Pradesh in the name of the accused. Later, however, the RTO in Indora detected the fake documents and address submitted for registration. “The vehicle’s registration was cancelled in February 2021. So, the owner had been using the vehicle with cancelled registration for more than two years in Kerala,” the officer said.
Ernakulam RTO (enforcement) Swapna S P said the vehicle owner has refused to cooperate with the investigation. “We have been sending notices to the vehicle owner for further information on the vehicle. But he has not turned up. We approached police as there were criminal proceedings to be initiated. Usually, an NOC is required for inter-state transfer of registration. We checked the Parivahan website and found that registration had been cancelled by authorities in Himachal Pradesh,” Swapna added.