The luxury car, owned by a Thane neta and under the scanner in the illegal car import scandal, is registered as a Maruti Esteem with Thane RTO!
The luxury car, owned by a Thane neta and under the scanner in the illegal car import scandal, is registered as a Maruti Esteem with Thane RTO!
The illegal imported car racket only gets murkier. Interestingly, one among the 12 SUVs on the watch list of the
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from gunda to neta: The Rs 70 lakh vehicle, which is often seen parked in the premises of the Thane Municipal Corporation, had been
sold to a local politician by slain gangster Pappu Shirshekar's associate |
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police, is registered as a Maruti Esteem VXI.
The Rs 70-lakh vehicle, which is often seen parked in the premises of the Thane Municipal Corporation, had been sold to a local politician by slain gangster Pappu Shirshekar's associate, informed insiders.
MiD DAY checked on the registration of the Lexus (MH-04 CM-7578) with the Thane RTO. Documents available with MiD DAY show that the vehicle is registered as a Maruti Esteem VXI with the chassis number MA3EBE4 1S00458712 and engine number G13BBN298062. As per the RTO records, the car is owned by one Smarjit Sengupta, a resident of Ganohare, Tal Wadi in Thane.
Inquiries revealed that the vehicle was bought by the gangster from a tainted car dealer Rasiklal Choksey and was sold to the Thane politician in 2006. Choksey was arrested by the DRI in January. DRI sources informed that the car was one of the 200-odd high-end cars that were smuggled into the country to evade the steep 160 per cent customs duty.
The DRI and EOW are investigating this case after a directive from the Bombay High Court. Over the past four months, six reputed car dealers were arrested in the illegal car import case.
Joint Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria asked MiD DAY for the details on the Lexus, and said, "I will ask my officers to investigate the matter and arrest the culprit."
Bollywood ka car-nama Actor Sushmita Sen is under the HC's scanner for illegally importing a Land Cruiser. The matter came to light after Sen had filed a petition seeking an octroi waiver for the Land Cruiser imported in May 2005. Recently, cars of Bollywood producer Boney Kapoor and singer Daler Mehendi are also under the scanner of EOW. Kapoor's and Mehendi's Toyota Land Cruisers have been seized by the police.
