Chennai: The income-tax department has summoned the owners of the swanky cars that were seized by the city police on Sunday for alleged speeding and rash driving on East Coast Road. According to I-T sources, all the owners of the high value cars were asked to be present at the Income-Tax Office on Monday for giving statements.
I-T officials indicated that that they would like to know the source of funds for the owners to buy such cars. “We don't know if the cars were owned by the drivers against whom the police had booked a number of cases. We would like to check the finance part regarding the purchase of the cars. They may belong to the drivers, firms or other family members. We hope they will have satisfactory explanations for our questions on money used to buy the cars when they appear before us on Monday,” a senior income-tax official said.
The police, after seizing the cars — 3 Lamborghinis, 2 Porsches, 2 Audis, a Ferrari, a Mercedes Benz and a BMW, which are valued at several crores of rupees - moved them to a shed in a facility of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) located behind Kanathur Police Station off ECR, for safe-keeping.
The 10 drivers of these cars were booked for rash driving or riding on a public way, act endangering life or personal safety of others, driving dangerously, racing and speed trials, besides causing noise pollution.
One more section was added in the case of a Lamborghini's driver identified as Raghav Krishnan who drove his car over a police inspector's foot. He was charged under IPC section 332 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty).
