Mumbai:
A shocking case has come to light in Mumbai, where a cab driver forged his number plate to save himself from his car loan. The incident took place near the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, where two Maruti Suzuki Ertiga cars had arrived and both had yellow registration plates. A car owner noticed that another car with the same number plate was also there and informed the police.
The Taj Mahal Hotel was the target of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, so it is a sensitive area. Many security agencies keep a constant vigil here. As soon as the police got information about two vehicles with similar number plates, they immediately took action and brought both the vehicles to Colaba Police Station. The drivers were interrogated.
Sakir Ali, who has an Ertiga SUV. His car is on hire basis. For the last six months, we were continuously receiving challan and fine information based on the car’s registration number. Ali was surprised that his car never visited the places where challans were issued and he also received information about toll evasion. After this he contacted the traffic police, but did not get any solution.
Ali told that I was continuously getting information about the fine and we had also filed a complaint. One of Ali’s drivers had seen a similar car in Bandra and had also photographed it, but the car could not be found.
When Ali reached Taj Hotel to drop a passenger, he saw another Ertiga car with the same number plate. Ali immediately tried to stop the car, but the driver drove away at high speed. Ali informed the police and the police stopped the car and brought it to Colaba Police Station. Ali said that I tried to stop the car and also took the keys. But the driver snatched it back and accelerated the car. He stopped only when the police blocked his way. When Ali was asked if he knew the driver? So he said that he did not recognize the driver.
The registration number of Ali’s car is MH01EE2388, while the number of the other car was MH01EE2383. The driver of the other car told the police that he had deliberately changed the last digit of his number plate to ‘8’ so that he could avoid the recovery agent of his car loan. He said that he was not able to repay the EMI taken for the car. That’s why he changed the number plate in this way.
Police said in a statement that preliminary investigation did not reveal any motive for the security breach. According to the police, the accused did this mainly to save the car from being seized by the financial institution. A case has been registered against the accused in this matter.