Abandoned: Bentley, Aston Martin

Two of the world’s most expensive and desirable cars — an Aston Martin and a Bentley — were found abandoned by the roadside in two different areas in Delhi. Rajesh Ahuja reports.

Two of the world’s most expensive and desirable cars — an Aston Martin and a Bentley — were found abandoned by the roadside in two different areas in Delhi.

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Both cars were found by Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials, after anonymous phone calls tipped them off. The DRI investigates tax and other economic frauds.

An Aston Martin costs between R1.35-20 crore while a Bentley comes for R1.6-2.9 crore before registration. DRI officials said the cars were abandoned because they were illegally imported on fake papers. The sources said the cars were brought into the country in the names of diplomats of two Asian countries.

In both cases, no custom duty was paid since diplomats are allowed to import vehicles for their personal use. Once inside the country, these cars were diverted to their new owners, who would have had to pay the privilege of owning them.

The DRI officials said there could be more instances of the super-expensive cars being “abandoned” on Delhi’s roads in the next few days, since a probe into an import scam of such vehicles is on. The agency has so far seized more than 40 such cars.

“The investigation is at a sensitive stage,” said RK Sharma, DRI’s Delhi zone additional director general.

The DRI has also arrested the alleged kingpin of the scam, Sumit Walia, who would buy the cars off diplomats and sell them to the rich and famous.