Four RTO officers suspended over fake Mercedes-Benz registration scandal

In a significant move triggered by an exclusive NewsFirst Prime story, four Regional Transport Office (RTO) officers have been suspended for their alleged negligence in a high-profile fake registration case involving a Mercedes-Benz G-63 car. The suspensions, ordered by Transport Commissioner M. Yogesh, target three officers from Mangaluru RTO and one from Udupi RTO, following their failure to verify documents that facilitated a Rs 1.95 crore vehicle being registered as a Rs 32 lakh car, causing a Rs 40-50 lakh tax loss to the government.

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The controversy began in 2017 when Nihal Ahmed purchased the Mercedes-Benz G-63 from Sundaram Motors in Bengaluru, funded by a loan from HDFC Bank’s Miyapur branch in Hyderabad. After failing to pay the loan and register the car, Nihal sold it unregistered to a Delhi dealer in 2020. The dealer, using forged documents, registered it in Himachal Pradesh under a fictitious owner, Tiago, on September 25, 2020. When HDFC Bank traced the car and reported the fraud on February 5, 2021, the registration was canceled on October 5, 2021. The car later surfaced in a Delhi crime branch probe into a racket of re-registering seized vehicles, leading to its seizure and return to HDFC Bank after a court order.

In a twist, Neeraj Kumar Sharma bought the car at a bank auction and attempted to re-register it. Using fake documents and exploiting a 2019 court order, he misled Udupi RTO into registering the G-63 as a cheaper Mercedes-Benz GLA, evading significant taxes. Mangaluru RTO’s initial clearance request and Udupi RTO’s failure to cross-check documents enabled this fraud.

The deception unraveled when a Bengaluru buyer flagged the car’s blocked status on the e-Vahan portal, leading to its seizure from a Mysuru resident who had exchanged it for a Lamborghini. The suspensions underscore the government’s zero-tolerance stance on corruption. An investigation into all aspects, including Nihal Ahmed’s 2022 complaint about being cheated by friends, is underway to ensure accountability.