A Range Rover of one of the most famous Bollywood villain – Danny Denzongpa is in the docks along with 450 other luxury vehicles that were seized by the Maharashtra’s Regional Transport Office. This crackdown on tax evaders was initiated by Praveen Gedam, Transport Commissioner at RTO in Maharashtra’s Mumbai region.
This special drive commenced in January 14, 2017 and special flying squads scanned luxury car number plates in the state wherein it was found that a record number of 450 vehicles had evaded payment of taxes. These luxury cars included Ferrari, Porsche, Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz while among these were Danny Denzongpa’s Sikkim-registered Range Rover all priced between INR 40 lakhs to INR 2 crores.
Owners of luxury vehicles prefer to register cars in this luxury category in other states, especially considering that registering such vehicles in the state of Maharashtra is a costly affair. The Maharashtra state levies 11-13% tax on luxury cars which is among the highest in the country while owners also have to bear additional charges of Octroi.
The Range Rover belonging to Danny Dengzongpa was registered in Sikkim but was being used by the actor in Mumbai. Andheri RTO release the vehicle after an amount of INR 24.23 lakhs was paid as actual tax by the actor. In addition, a sum of INR 5.33 lakh was charged as interest. To date, INR 2.5 crores has been collected as fines while the RTO expects this sum to go well over the INR 10 crore mark in the days to come.
What the Police has to say
We have a flying squad that keeps an eye out for vehicles carrying registration from other states. On February 13, we found Danny’s car with a Sikkim number plate. When he was unable to produce a receipt of the Maharashtra road tax payment, we took over his Range Rover and kept it at the Andheri office. His driver arrived yesterday and paid the quoted amount, following which the car was released. In this case, it amounted to Rs 24.23 lakh, along with a yearly interest of Rs 5.33 lakh, totaling Rs 29.56 lakh. Some dealers misguide customers, telling them they will work around the rule and have the vehicle registered in another state. But this is illegal.