Rto Scam: RTO rot runs deep: Mum police bust tip of iceberg | Nagpur News

Nagpur: The Navi Mumbai crime branch, which seized 19 heavy vehicles from Nagpur and arrested an agent of the rural Regional Transport Office (RTO) after unearthing a scam of registering stolen vehicles at Amravati RTO, is conducting further searches in Vidarbha to unearth the entire network of Javed Abdulla Shaikh alias Maniyar who is the mastermind of the nationwide racket of registering stolen trucks.The scam revolved around not only stolen vehicles but also issuance of no-objection certificate (NOC) and assignment of ‘new registration mark’ or ‘RMA process’. Sources said the racketeers ran a well-oiled network pan India comprising vehicle thieves, RTO agents, officials and car dealers in different states. Sources said the racketeers, among Maniyar who possessed multiple Aadhaar cards, would prepare fake documents from states like Telangana where the transport software Vahan 4.0 is not activated.The racketeers would first steal a truck, prepare fake documents in states where software Vahan 4.0 was not activated and take the vehicles to north eastern states like Nagaland where fresh documents and NOC would be issued creating new govt records. These documents would be transferred to Maharashtra as govt records to form basis for re-issuance of new registration numbers. The vehicles would be later sold with fresh documents.Sources said Maniyar, who too used a software too prepare fake govt records, had spread his network to RTOs including Nagpur, Amravati, Dhule, Pune, Buldhana, Yavatmal and other places where he guided his conduits on the further process. Though the racket was active for the last one decade, their activities had gained momentum since 2021.In Nagpur, the stolen trucks with Nagaland registration numbers came to transport hubs at Waddhamna, Kapil Nagar, Jaripatka, Lakadganj and Kalamna. Sources said many transporters in Nagpur along with the RTO agents and some officials have now gone underground.Maniyar, who had 10 offenses against him in Mahrashtra and another nine in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, was first arrested by a team of DCP Amit Kale, senior inspector Shashikant Chandekar and sub-inspector Pratap Desai under Navi Mumbai CP Milind Bharambe last week.The Navi Mumbai crime branch has so far arrested nine persons, including an assistant RTO, motor vehicle inspector and assistant motor vehicle inspector from Amravati. They have also seized nine heavy vehicles from Amravati.According to senior officials of the Navi Mumbai crime branch, documents and records from Nagpur RTO has been sought for investigation. “We want to fix the responsibility before taking action against anyone. Arrests would be done only after evidence on records necessitates such actions,” said a senior official.According to senior RTO official, Nagpur rural RTO allowed new registrations on basis of records generated by Vahan 4.0, and not manually. “Responsibility should be fixed on Nagaland and other RTOs who created and issued govt records,” said an official on condition of anonymity.