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7 years after bizmen fled without paying ₹19 lakh bill, their rusting cars lose value; CITCO’s hopes of recovery bleak
Once valued at nearly ₹70 lakh combined, the vehicles have depreciated drastically after lying unused on the hotel premises since 2018. Officials said the reserve price of the Audi has now been pegged at around ₹4 lakh, while the Chevrolet’s reserve price has dropped to just ₹1 lakh. However, ongoing police cases have prevented CITCO from auctioning the vehicles, leaving the corporation with limited options to recover the pending amount.
Seven years after two businessmen allegedly fled Hotel Shivalikview without paying a ₹19-lakh bill, the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation Limited (CITCO) remains saddled with their abandoned luxury vehicles, with legal hurdles blocking any meaningful recovery.
CITCO had seized an Audi Q5 and a Chevrolet Cruze left behind by the duo, identified as Ashwani Chopra of Ludhiana and Ramnik Bansal of Ferozepur, who stayed at the hotel for over five months (between May and October 2018) before disappearing without clearing their dues.
Once valued at nearly ₹70 lakh combined, the vehicles have depreciated drastically after lying unused on the hotel premises since 2018. Officials said the reserve price of the Audi has now been pegged at around ₹4 lakh, while the Chevrolet’s reserve price has dropped to just ₹1 lakh. However, ongoing police cases have prevented CITCO from auctioning the vehicles, leaving the corporation with limited options to recover the pending amount.
A senior official of CITCO said, “We cannot auction the vehicles as the police case is registered on both cars. We have written to the legal team asking them for the way forward.”
An internal inquiry conducted in January 2019 by a committee, comprising then senior accounts manager Rajneesh Diwan and company secretary Maninder Singh, found that officials had failed to follow standard operating procedures. The panel recommended recovering the loss from staff responsible for the lapse. Subsequently, CITCO deducted salaries of three employees, but the bulk of the amount remains unrecovered.
The episode adds to the long list of troubles faced by the once-iconic hotel. Inaugurated in 1989, Hotel Shivalikview was considered the region’s premier hospitality destination and a preferred venue for the city’s elite.
The hotel’s image also suffered due to controversies, including a murder case reported in 2004 and a high-profile gambling racket busted on its premises in 2018.
