Vehicle registration: Case against Malayalam actors for dodging tax

Thiruvananthapuram: The Crime Branch has found that actors Fahadh Faasil and Amala Paul had forged documents for registering their luxury vehicles in Puducherry. Mr Uday, the engineering student who lived in the flat in St Teresa’s street at Thilaspet where Amala Paul’s car was registered, stated that she had not stayed in the flat, but claimed she had entered into a contract for rent. However, he failed to provide the copy of the rent documents. The Crime Branch has also questioned the notary who gave the affidavit for registering the car.

It was from questioning some government officials that the Crime Branch came to the conclusion that the address used by Fahad Fazil was forged. The CB has already registered cases against Fahad Fazil and Amala Paul for allegedly registering their luxury cars in Pondicherry by giving fake address proofs to evade hefty taxes. Amala paid only Rs 1.75 lakh as tax for her Mercedes Benz costing Rs 1.2 crore and she has been accused of evading tax to the tune of Rs 20 lakh. Fahad Fazil had registered his Mercedes Benz E Class, costing Rs 70 lakh, by paying only Rs 1.5 lakh as tax as against Rs 14 lakh applicable in Kerala.

As per the Kerala Motor Vehicles Act, vehicles registered in other states plying in Kerala have to be registered again within a year and 20 per cent of the vehicle’s price should be paid as road tax. The Crime Branch had on Friday registered a non-bailable case against actor Suresh Gopi for registering his luxury car in false addresses in Pondicherry. Inquiries by the Motor Vehicle Department had earlier revealed that several prominent film actors and businessmen from the state had used the low tax structure in Pondicherry prior to GST to get their luxury vehicles registered as the transport department of the Union Territory had fixed one per cent as registration fee for luxury cars.