An evidently super-rich man with ostensibly a lot of disposable income paid a stunning Rs. 19 lakh for a fancy vehicle registration number in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, and it is being touted as the highest amount paid for a vehicle registration number in the state, ever.

Times of India reports that a pharmacy owner paid the amount to get the number ‘KL 01CB1’ for his luxury car. Interestingly, KS Balagopal, the owner of Devi Pharma, had won the bid for the number at Rs 12 lakh, but he increased the amount to create the record. Another bidder had quoted Rs 10.02 lakh for the same number.

The previous record was Rs 16.15 lakh for the number ‘KL 08 BL1’, which was in Thrissur.

The Times of India report states that in just one day, on Monday, Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) received Rs 24,93,500 in the auction of 28 vehicle registration numbers. MVD did not allow the participation of people who had registered in past auctions but did not participate in the bidding. The department will also record all the auctions and bidding to maintain transparency.

ToI reports that fancy numbers ‘KL 01 CA 9999’ and ‘KL 01CB 9’ were the other numbers sold for higher rates on Monday, and they were auctioned for Rs 2.35 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh respectively.

The auctions were held under the supervision of RTO B Muraleekrishnan, RTO (enforcement) P M Shaji, deputy transport commissioner C K Ashokan and assistant transport commissioner K Padmakumar, report says.

MVD had put up 27 fancy numbers for auction for which about 210 applications were received and only 67 turned up.