Mangaluru: Three transport department employees based in Mangaluru have been suspended following accusations of tampering with a luxury vehicle’s temporary registration details and declared value, resulting in significant revenue loss to the government.
According to a directive dated June 26, Transport Commissioner Yogish A M ordered the suspension of three staffers from the office of the Deputy Commissioner for Transport and Senior Regional Transport Officer. The individuals named in the action are Saraswathi (headquarter assistant), Rekha Nayak (superintendent), and Neelappa K H (first grade assistant).
The incident involves the suspected alteration of the invoice value of a high-end car. Initially, the vehicle was given a temporary registration by the Electronics City RTO on January 1, 2017, with an invoice amount listed as ₹1,96,95,000. However, on December 24, 2024, records at the Mangaluru RTO allegedly show the car’s value was modified and drastically reduced to ₹32,15,000.
This change reportedly enabled the evasion of a large portion of the road tax, thereby causing a considerable loss to public funds. The manipulation came to light after the Additional Transport Commissioner (Administration) conducted an on-site review in Mangaluru on June 25 and presented a detailed report.
Subsequently, the three officials were reassigned pending further investigation. Neelappa K H was sent to Shivamogga, Rekha Nayak to Chikkamagaluru, and Saraswathi to the Bengaluru (North) RTO.
The report concluded that the staff had failed in their duties by enabling the fraudulent modification.
