Rolls-Royce in Amitabh Bachchan’s name seized in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: The Karnataka transport department seized seven luxury cars in a special raid near UB City on Sunday, including a Rolls-Royce Phantom it said registered in Amitabh Bachchan’s name.
The raid on Vittal Mallya Road began around 4pm and netted several top-end cars, including Land Rover, Porsche and Jaguar, some of them parked at UB City.
A transport department team impounded a luxury car during a special drive near UB City
Officials said the cars were seized for plying without paying taxes, lack of proper documentation and insurance. Of the seven vehicles, five are registered in Puducherry, where road tax is less, and two in Maharashtra. Insurance had expired on most cars, officials said.
“The person driving the Rolls-Royce Phantom (MH 02 BB 2) was identified as Salman Khan, who is around 35 years old and is from Vasanthnagar. His father reportedly bought the car from Bachchan,” said L Narendra Holkar, additional transport commissioner (enforcement).
The white Rolls-Royce Phantom was gifted to the Bollywood star by filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra on the success of his film, ‘Eklavya’, in 2007. Bachchan reportedly sold it to Yusuf Shariff alias D Babu of Umrah Developers in 2019 but the car remains in the actor’s name, officials said.
Sources said the Rolls-Royce was bought by Babu but its ownership was reportedly not transferred from Bachchan’s name. However, there are no details of the vehicle in the VAHAN-4 portal.
Time will be given to furnish valid papers: Official
Babu told reporters that he had directly purchased the car from Bachchan. “My family members use it on Sundays. They seized my vehicle along with other luxury cars. They told me they will release it when I submit the vehicle documents. The vehicle is still in the name of Bachchan,” he said.
Confirming that the vehicle is still in Bachchan’s name, Holkar said, “A vehicle is not permitted to ply with other state registration number beyond 11 months from the date of migration. But this car was bought from Bachchan on February 27, 2019. Babu told us he paid around Rs 6 crore for the car. He didn’t have the required documents. However, he produced a letter signed by Bachchan stating that the vehicle was sold to him.”
Holkar said time would be given to produce valid documents and if they fail to do so, “we will decide on the next course of action”.
On Monday, three car owners produced documents and renewed their lapsed insurance and we will give them the vehicles on Tuesday,” Holkar said. “The Supreme Court has repeatedly said that driving a vehicle without insurance is illegal. Most of these vehicles were registered in other states. All impounded cars are now at Nelamangala Regional Transport Office.”
Holkar said the department received complaints that some luxury car owners use one number for multiple vehicles. “We have decided to take action against such people,” he said.
Karnataka levies one of the highest road taxes in India so many luxury car owners register in neighbouring states, causing huge losses to the state exchequer.