17 chargesheeted in fake vehicle registration case in Palampur

Our Correspondent

Palampur, June 4

The police today filed a chargesheet in a local court against 17 persons in the case of registration of vehicles on fake documents with the Palampur Motor Licensing Authority during the lockdown last year. The accused include employees of the SDM office, agents and the owners of the vehicles. The police had already recovered six vehicles.

Official sources said during the inspection of the Motor Licensing Authority branch in February this year, Palampur SDM Dharmesh Ramotra had detected irregularities in the registration of light motor vehicles. He had found that over 110 cars, which were banned by the Supreme Court, were registered on the basis of fake documents. The Tribune was the first to highlight the issue in these columns and later on the complaint of the SDM, an FIR was registered at Palampur police station.

DSP, Palampur, Amit Sharma, who investigated the case, said that of 17 persons only two belonged to Himachal while the 15 others belonged to Delhi, Chandigarh and Bangalore. Two accused being government employees had been booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act while the 15 others had been booked under different sections of the IPC. He added that it was also found during investigation that over Rs 40 lakh was credited to the bank account of agent Bindu, who is the kingpin of the racket, from different places as commission for the registration of the vehicles.

Licensing Authority staff ‘involved’

• The Supreme Court had banned the registration of BS-IV vehicles in the country from April 1, 2020
• However, over 110 BS-IV standard vehicles were registered on fake documents with the Palampur Motor Licensing Authority in connivance with its staff
• Six cars, including a BMW, Toyota, Mercedes, Hyundai Creta, were impounded from Chandigarh, Bangalore and Delhi