According to the police, the racket came to light when Ghatkopar resident Nandlal Yadav (37), who owns a rickshaw and runs a garage, on Tuesday spotted an auto with registration number MH 03 BT 914.
Two autorickshaws with same registration numbers and one curious garage owner blew the lid off a racket of illegal autos plying without permit in the city, in connivance of RTO agents. The Pant Nagar police have arrested two people – a rickshaw driver and an RTO agent – in connection with the case.
So far, the cops have seized five autos which were being driven around with fake number plates.
According to the police, the racket came to light when Ghatkopar resident Nandlal Yadav (37), who owns a rickshaw and runs a garage, on Tuesday spotted an auto with registration number MH 03 BT 914. What startled him was that the registration number was exactly the same as that of his own rickshaw.
"Yadav has a rickshaw with the same registration number and valid documents and when he spotted another rickshaw with similar number he got suspicious and made enquiries with the driver," said a police officer.
He added, "Yadav brought the driver to the police station along with the rickshaw." The police after hearing out Yadav questioned the rickshaw driver, identified as 41-year-old Prasad Gupta, who said an RTO agent had got him the rickshaw to drive in the city.
later revealed the name of RTO agent Nitin Shinde who got him the rickshaw to drive in the city.
While the Pant Nagar police immediately arrested Gupta, they picked up the RTO agent, Nitin Shinde, on Wednesday. "We are taking the investigation forward and have seized five rickshaws plying illegally with the help of fake number plates and without registration," said an officer.
The officer added, "The racket has exposed a nexus between RTO agents and auto drivers and we are hoping to bring more such people to book."
Thampi Kurian, chief of the Mumbai Rickshawmen's Union, who has been raising this issue at transport forums, said, "The police should come down heavily on this issue. We suspect that 15-20 per cent of rickshaws in the city might be illegal. I have been suggesting for long that all rickshaws should have RFID tags and only through them they should be provided CNG."
Kurian said if gas supply to these vehicles is curtailed, the menace of illegal autos can be brought to an end. "The other way is to destroy a cancelled vehicle completely instead of the the current method of cutting off some of its parts with gas-cutters."
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