The mystery over a vehicle, which used a diplomatic number plate allotted to an official of the Israel Embassy in Delhi, is yet to be solved in Kerala.
The vehicle was seized by officials of the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) on Saturday from a house at Parassala on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram.
Now, the police will begin investigating the case soon.
The six-seater Innova car was plying on a duplicate number that was allotted to an Israel Embassy official in Delhi. It was seized from the premises of a person named Vipin by officials of the MVD on Saturday.
The officials led by Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI) Anwar Moideen and Assistant MVI Arun seized the vehicle at Uramvila, Pozhikunnu, after getting information that four cars with duplicate number plates were plying in the area.
On some occasions, the vehicles had even crossed the border, the officials were informed.
The officials rushed to the spot and found the vehicle, but Vipin, the owner of the car, was not there.
“The number used was 109 CD 13. 109 CD is allotted to the Ambassador of Israel and the CD stands for Diplomatic corps. On enquiry, we found that it was allotted to an official at the Israel Embassy in New Delhi. When we reached the spot, the person was not there. We have intimated him to come to the office, but he didn’t turn up. Instead he had sent the key of the vehicle to us through someone else using which we have seized the car” Assistant MVI Arun told TNM.
“Usually, embassy officials use a number plate where the numbers are written in white on blue background. But on this vehicle, the number was written in the normal way as in all other vehicles, with lettering in black on white background. On Tuesday, we got a photocopy of the documents of the vehicle which was again sent through someone else to the office,” he added.
As per unofficial sources, the officers gathered details that the embassy official had sold the vehicle.
“For an embassy officer to sell a vehicle, there are more procedures involved. The Ministry of External Affairs should be informed, which will recommend Regional Transport Office clearance and then the RTO has to give no-objection certificate. But in this case, none of the formalities have been followed,” he added.
“It’s a criminal offence as the owner didn’t produce the original documents to us and hence it was decided to hand over the investigation to the police,” he said.
State Transport Commissioner Anil Kanth has decided to hand over the case to the police.
The MVD officials have handed over the documents to the police and Pozhiyoor police will investigate the case.