7 held for plying trucks with fake number plates

◗ The owners had replicated the registration numbers of their new trucks which are plying in some distant parts of the country

Half a dozen trucks plying illegally using fake registration numbers were impounded and seven persons, including drivers and an owner, arrested in Greater Noida on Tuesday, police said.

The 10- tyre heavy vehicles, including trucksmounted cranes and concrete mixers, were more than 10 years old and operating in the National Capital Region ( NCR) in contravention of the National Green Tribunal’s ( NGT’s) directives, a senior police official said.

“Working on a tip- off, a team of personnel from the Bisrakh police station held the six drivers and impounded these trucks. One of the owners of these trucks has also been arrested while the second is absconding,” Circle Officer, Greater Noida 3, Nishank Sharma said.

Sharma said such type of heavy trucks, which are more than a decade old, have been banned by the NGT. Moreover, these trucks were found plying on fake registration number on their plates, he said. The owners had replicated the registration numbers of their new trucks which are plying in some distant parts of the country and used the same numbers to run these old trucks,” the CO said, explaining the modus operandi.

“These trucks were used to supply material to construction sites here,” he said. Owner Yash Gupta, a resident of Ghaziabad, has been arrested, while his partner Ankur Bansal, of Sahibabad in Ghaziabad, is absconding, according to the police.

The drivers arrested have been identified as Vinod Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Jitendra Prasad Gupta, Bharat Singh, Qadir and Chanaarik Yadav, the police said. They have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 482 ( using a false property mark) and 420 ( cheating).