Many vehicle owners use 'police', 'press', 'judge', or 'MLA' stickers to avoid paying traffic tickets or parking charges but what a resident of Hyderabad has done simply left the police stunned.
The car owner displayed 'AP CM Jagan', not as a sticker but as permanent iron plates in place of the number plates in the front and rear part of his vehicle. This was detected during a routine checking of vehicles by the traffic police in Jedimetla in Hyderabad on October 19. The incident came to light on Tuesday.
M. Hari Rakesh, a native of East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, told the police that he did this to get exemption from payment of toll tax and checking by traffic police. The BTech graduate was said to be staying in Kukatpally.
The police seized the car and a case was registered against Rakesh under IPC Sections 420 (Cheating) and 210 (Fraud) at the Jeedimetla police station.
Telangana: Case registered against a person by Jeedimetla police for driving a car with 'AP CM JAGAN' written on it, in place of the vehicle's registration number. #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/kSw40Szwsu
— ANI (@ANI) October 22, 2019
According to the website of the Hyderabad Traffic Police, fancy lettering, names, pictures and arts should not be displayed on the number plates, as it would be a violation of the Motor Vehicles Act.
The Hyderabad Traffic Police, led by Additional Commissioner of Police (traffic) Anil Kumar, have repeatedly stated that vehicles with fancy number plates would be seized, and action would be taken against the owners.
Besides the MV Act, the police have also cited an order issued by the Centre in December 2013, which mandated that all vehicles in the country had to be fitted with a High Security Registration Plate.
As of March this year, media reports suggest that the police had booked 17,486 cases for irregular number plates, compared to 71,324 cases that were booked in 2018.
With IANS inputs