A jeep that was sold at the auction with a fake registration number. (Express Photo: Harmeet Sodhi)Buying used vehicles in an auction conducted by Railway Police in Patiala cost two buyers dearly as the registration numbers of their purchases turned out to be fake. Both have lodged a complaint with Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu, demanding strict action against the officers who conducted the auction.
Gurwinder Singh, who bought two jeeps and a gypsy car at the auction, told Chandigarh Newsline that he is in the business of modifying old vehicles and planned to his purchases modified at Dabwali town in Haryana. The town is known for modification of vehicles, especially old jeeps.
Gurwinder, a resident of Faridkot district, further said that he had seen an advertisement in a newspaper in February and applied. The auction was held on February 15, where nine vehicles including four jeeps, four gypsies and a Tata Sumo vehicle were up for auction.
In his complaint, Gurwinder said that he along with his two partners bought three vehicles which included two jeeps.
“The department provided the Registration Certificates (RCs) of two vehicles but they kept dilly-dallying about one jeep. I asked the department many times but they did not provide the RC. Then I approached the office of the Patiala vehicle registration authority and found that the number was fake and it was allotted to the owner of an SUV. When I asked the department about it, they did not give a satisfactory answer, following which I lodged a complaint with the SSP,” he added.
Mandeep Singh, who bought a 2005 model gypsy car in the auction said he too did not get an RC from the department, following which he checked with the transport department and found that the registration number was fake. He alleged that officials of Railway Police were involved in a big scam.
The Line Officer (LO) of the Railway Police department Pawan Kumar, who conducted the auction, was not available for comment.
