Delhi odd-even: Six cars with fake number plates caught in four days

At least six drivers of cars with fake number plates were prosecuted across the city in the last four days with the Delhi Police and the government promising to step up action in the coming days.

At least six drivers of cars with fake number plates were prosecuted across the city in the last four days with the Delhi Police and the government promising to step up action in the coming days.

A traffic constable Suresh Kumar was stationed near Janakpuri flyover, to check violations on Tuesday when he spotted a Honda City which halted at the traffic signal. (PTI)

“At various points we have held drivers found resorting to illegal means to tweak the last digit on their number plates. Along with the violation of the odd-even restriction they will also be booked under sections of cheating and forgery. Strict action will follow,” said a senior Delhi Police official.

The cases have been reported from the Delhi-Gurgaon border, Rohini sector-15, Uttam Nagar and Mehrauli.

A traffic constable Suresh Kumar was stationed near Janakpuri flyover, to check violations on Tuesday when he spotted a Honda City which halted at the traffic signal.

“I looked at the plate and it was a fancy number plate, tattooed on the borders. To clear my doubt I signalled the driver to park his vehicle on the side of the road. The last digit of the registration number was three but we could clearly see the glue marks in the background as if number eight was removed from the plate. The driver was taken to the local police and the process of interrogation has started,” Kumar told HT.

A week before the odd-even rule was about to be implemented, HT had reported how a market of fake number plates and stickers has sprung in various parts of the city. Following the report, Delhi Police and teams from Delhi government had raided several motor markets in the city where such number plates were being sold.

“We have deployed our teams at the borders and are keeping a check on such cases of fake number plates. However, it is difficult to catch such violations on the road so we have decided to curb this from the root by controlling the trade of fake number plates,” a senior transport official said.

On Thursday last week, HT’s team had managed to get two number plates — one ending with an odd number and other with even — after paying just ` 200 in Karol Bagh. There were no questions asked.

At Shastri motor market, shopkeepers showed us a range of ‘jugaad’ which we could use during the odd-even rule to trick the police and the government.

Fake number plates, stickers to alter the last digit in keeping with the odd-even formula, ‘reversible’ plates and many more cheat options were on offer.