Kerala’s Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) in Punalur, Kollam, has detected a suspected inter-State vehicle fraud after a State government’s scrapped two-wheeler was attempted to be re-registered, claiming it as abandoned by the Indian armed forces, officials said on Monday (November 17, 2025).
MVD recently posted details of the fraud on its Facebook page.
According to officials, the incident came to light after a Royal Enfield motorcycle with registration number HP-47-A-4670 was presented at the Punalur Sub-Regional Transport Office for re-registration.
While inspecting the motorcycle, Assistant Motor Vehicle Inspector Simod V.S. noticed discrepancies in its chassis number.
He then decided to verify the vehicle’s chassis number in the Parivahan database.
“From the verification, we found that the motorcycle was originally registered in Thiruvananthapuram RTO under the number KL-01-AV-4409 as a State government vehicle used by the Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB). It was scrapped a few years ago, and the vehicle registration was cancelled,” an MVD officer said.
According to the Kerala government policy, its vehicles are scrapped after 15 years of service.
These vehicles are strictly given for scrapping and not permitted for further registration, the MVD official said.
The MVD officials then inquired about the vehicle’s history with the person who produced it for re-registration.
“He said that the motorcycle was purchased from a pre-owned dealer in Malappuram district, who procured it from Haryana. The current owner seems to be unaware of the registration fraud,” the officer said.
What surprised MVD officials was that the motorcycle scrapped in Kerala was recorded as an ex-Army/auction vehicle and had been registered at the RTO at Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh.
“Parivahan records show that it was purchased from the Army on July 22, 2025, and was re-registered fraudulently on July 24, 2025, using forged documents,” the official said.
MVD suspects that the person who purchased the two-wheeler from the government department for scrapping might have sold it to other State dealers.
“The dealer in another State might have used forged documents to register it in Himachal Pradesh,” the officer said.
MVD has handed over the vehicle to the police for conducting a detailed probe.
The Punalur police will register a case and conduct an investigation, the MVD official added.
Published – November 17, 2025 11:43 am IST
