Auto driver changes number plate to evade fines, booked

The alertness of a traffic policeman helped nab an autorickshaw driver who used a different vehicle registration number plate to avoid paying e-challan fines. Ironically, the errant vehicle driver was nabbed when he had put up his original number plate on the vehicle.

The complainant, constable Dinesh Kadve, 52, is posted with the Mankhurd traffic division. On August 25, the Mankhurd traffic police chowky received information that an autorickshaw was using a bogus vehicle registration number plate.

A police officer said with the information was also tagged a photograph of the suspect’s auto, with green ribbons tied to the sidebars, a mini fire extinguisher and a BOSS sticker on the rear of the vehicle.

The officer said the auto matching the description was spotted at Shivaji Nagar junction the next day. However, the vehicle’s number plate was different. On sustained enquiry, the auto driver Shakeel Ayub Khan admitted to having put a different number to avoid paying fines.

Khan was booked under sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 465 (punishment for forgery) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code.

A police officer said instances of using different vehicle registration number plates are rampant. He said, “Other motorists whose number plates have been fraudulently used say they have been wrongly charged for traffic violations. It’s only on the basis of photographs we receive from the CCTV system that we track culprits and book them.”