The Crime Branch will probe into the alleged forgery of residential addresses, notarised affidavits and other documents to register 1500-odd luxury cars owned by Keralites in Puducherry to evade the 20% motor vehicle tax for luxury cars above 20 lakh in the State.
A decision to rope in the Crime Branch was taken at the meeting the State Transport Commissioner Anil Kant and top Motor Vehicle Department officials had with the Inspector General of Police, Crime Branch, S. Sreejith, in the Transport Commissionerate here on Tuesday.
The move is in the wake of the report of the four-member MVD team that looked into the tax evasion to the tune of ₹300 crore and the legal opinion that criminal case should be pursued against the erring motorists.
Another reason for roping in the CB is the inter-State links and involvement of touts and agents in the preparation of these documents and taking the vehicles to adjoining Puducherry for registration.
The CB will register FIR after taking statements from the four-member team led by the Assistant Secretary, State Transport Authority, C.S. Santosh Kumar that went to Puducherry last week to verify the addresses in Registration Certificate particulars of 2000 vehicles plying in Kerala with Puducherry registration number and to examine the documents submitted.
Joint Transport Commissoner and STA Secretary Rajeev Puthalath told The Hindu that the MVD team had found that 90% of the documents submitted for registration in Puducherry had been found to be forged.
“The documents collected by the MVD team during the course of the inquiry will be handed over to the CB,” Mr. Rajeev Puthalath said.
The inquiry team had got proof of the fake addresses used by actors Amala Paul and Fahad Fazil to register the high-end vehicles in Puducherry, he said. In the case of Amala Paul, the MVD had found that a native of Kannur had also registered his luxury vehicle from the same address and that notarised affidavit was forged.
The MVD had set up a team under the Enforcement RTO, Ernakulam to pursue the cases against the erring 1500-odd luxury cars. Tax evasion of over ₹300 crore and grave traffic offences of 7,400 had been committed by luxury cars owned mainly by those from Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram. “If needed, zonal teams will be set up’, he said.
Life insurance policy certificates, notarised affidavits, fake addresses and even fake GST certification were used for registration of these cars belonging to cine actors, businessmen and politicians in Puducherry.
Apart from the penalty, the erring motorists will have to remit the life time motor vehicle tax for these vehicles from the day they have hit the road. “Some have hinted that they will not remit the tax. We have decided to take stern action and even impounding of the vehicles and revenue recovery proceedings is to be adopted,” he added.
