Joint Transport Commissioner (Task Force) S.A.V. Prasada Rao on Tuesday said that criminal cases were registered against the owners of 154 BS-III-compliant vehicles that were allegedly fraudulently being operated as BS-IV-compliant vehicles.
At a press conference, he said following complaints a probe initiated by the department found that 154 BS-III vehicles bought as ‘scrap’ from Ashok Leyland and illegally registered as BS-IV-compliant vehicles at Kohima in Nagaland, were being operated in the State.
The scam allegedly involved former Anantapur MP J.C. Diwakar Reddy’s brother J.C. Prabhakar Reddy’s family. Of the total 154 vehicles, 50 were bought by a firm named Jatadhar and 104 by C. Gopal Reddy firm, of which J.C. Uma Reddy and J.C. Asmit Reddy are the directors respectively.
Mr. Rao said 101 of these vehicles were operating in Andhra Pradesh, 33 in Karnataka, 15 in Telangana, three in Nagaland and one each in Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh. Three more vehicles were yet to be identified, he said.
Mr. Rao said further probe was on to ascertain the role of the department personnel in the vehicle scam.
Fake documents
Besides, the firms also created fake third party vehicle insurance documents in violation of the clauses of the Motor Vehicle Act. Mr. Rao said the department had apprised the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of the vehicle scam, recommending that these vehicles be blacklisted.
He said the registration of 96 scam-tainted vehicles operating in the State had been cancelled, while cases relating to the remaining six vehicles were in court since a third party had bought the vehicles.
The Joint Transport Commissioner said the department was yet to identify 12 vehicles belonging to the Jatadhar company and four belonging to the C. Gopal Reddy firm operating in Telangana.
He said of the 101 vehicles operating in the State, 62 had been seized – 48 from Anantapur, two each from Kadapa and Guntur districts, five from Chittoor, four from Kurnool and one from Nellore.
