Guwahati: In a shocking discovery, state transport officials in Maharashtra have busted a major vehicle registration scam involving 60 buses and trucks from Arunachal Pradesh.
Authorities found the vehicles, re-registered at the Vasai Regional Transport Office (RTO) in the past three years, sported fake engine and chassis numbers, Free Press Journal reported.
Sources suspect these vehicles were initially registered with forged documents in Arunachal Pradesh before being illegally transferred to Maharashtra.
The discrepancy came to light when Vasai RTO verified the vehicle records with authorized dealers of their respective manufacturers.
Mismatching data sparked alarm bells, leading to a police complaint filed last month and an alert sent to other RTOs across the state to track down these 34 buses and 26 trucks.
This isn’t the first time such irregularities have surfaced. Just last year, the Vashi RTO uncovered a similar case involving several Arunachal-registered buses.
Questions are now being raised about how such a large number of vehicles with blatant forgeries managed to slip through the cracks at the Vasai RTO.
Transporters and activists are demanding answers, suspecting tax evasion or bypassing compliance issues as possible motives for transferring these vehicles out of Arunachal Pradesh.
Officials revealed that the discrepancy was discovered while routinely checking records of vehicles registered in the past three years.
Further investigation is underway, and early indications suggest fraudulent document usage in registering these vehicles. The standard procedure involves a thorough inspection by RTO inspectors, including verifying chassis and engine numbers, before approving the transfer.