Rolls Royce, once owned by Amitabh Bachchan, among 7 cars seized in Karnataka

BENGALURU: A Rolls Royce car that when belonged to was among the seven vehicles seized by Karnataka transport department on Sunday during a drive to see registration papers of luxury cars within the city

The vehicles were seized by the transport department because the car documents weren’t available.

“We don’t know who it belongs to. There are not any documents available with them (drivers). That’s why the vehicles were seized,” said Karnataka transport commissioner N Shiva Kumar.

According to the automobile law, vehicle owners are required to get a replacement registration certificate and pay the state’s road tax if a vehicle registered in another state is kept within the state for quite 12 months. The owner can apply for a refund of the road tax from the state where it had been originally registered.

“Some of those cars bore registration numbers belonging to Maharashtra or Pondicherry. These cars haven’t paid road tax in Karnataka… (which results in) an enormous loss to the state exchequer,” he added.

The special checking was conducted near UB city mall, a well-liked shopping destination in Bengaluru.

Apart from the Rolls Royce, officials said the opposite cars seized on Sunday include an Audi, Range Rover, Porsche, Mercedes Benz, and Jaguar. The vehicles are kept at the Road Transport Office (RTO) in Nelamangala on the outskirts of Karnataka’s capital city Bengaluru.

Of the seven, just one car owner has come to the fore with the documents thus far and therefore the documents presented are being verified.

Karnataka’s additional transport commissioner (enforcement) Narendra Holkar said the person driving the Rolls Royce couldn’t produce the relevant documents but only had a letter purportedly signed by Amitabh Bachchan stating that the vehicle was sold to him

Vahan (the Government of India database) doesn’t reflect any details about the vehicle. “So, we’ve seized the vehicle to look at the claims made by the driving force , said Holkar.

On Monday, an individual who identified himself as a realtor, Babu, said he purchased the car from the superstar in 2019 for ₹6 crore.

“The family uses the car on Sundays and once they came out (on Sunday), the department seized the vehicle. In my case, the driving force couldn’t produce the first documents. The documents are reception , and that i have told them that i will be able to bring them to the RTO,” said Babu.

Babu said the vehicle ownership documents weren’t transferred from the actor to his name when he bought the car.

Officials said the vehicle owners may need to pay heavy penalties if they can’t produce the specified documentation.

“The due process of law are going to be followed. just in case anyone is found violating rules fines will impose and if they can’t produce any documents, there’s an option of auctioning these vehicles. we’ve done such auctions within the past,” said a senior department official.

Luxury cars had last come under the scanner of the Karnataka Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Mangaluru in March this year when it probed a case of alleged middlemen selling luxury cars in violation of legal processes.