Luxury car linked to Minister Ganesh Kumar's wife under scanner for forged ownership documents

Thiruvananthapuram: A fresh controversy has erupted over allegations of forgery in the ownership documents of a luxury car that remained with the family of Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar until a month ago. The allegations point to irregularities in the vehicle’s registration records across multiple states, raising questions about how ownership details were altered in the official documents.

The vehicle in question, a Mini Cooper Brio, was first registered in Maharashtra and later in Puducherry, before finally being registered in Kerala on January 22, 2018, at the Punalur Road Transport Office. Interstingly, this registration in Kerala took place nearly a year after the car had already been plying on the state’s roads.

What has raised eyebrows is that, according to the Puducherry registration records, the minister’s wife, Bindu, was listed as the second owner of the vehicle. However, when the registration was transferred to Kerala, she was shown as the first owner. Even more striking, instead of being marked as a vehicle re-registered from another state, the car was classified as  `type new' vehicle on the Parivahan website. This anomaly occurred at a time when the ownership of luxury cars with Puducherry registrations by several celebrities in Kerala had already stirred a public debate.

The Mini Cooper, built in 2012 and imported to India, was originally registered at Nagpur Rural RTO on June 12, 2013, with the number MH 40 AC 6666. The first owner listed was a vehicle dealer. In 2017, the car’s ownership was transferred to Bindu, who used the address `Car Palace, No. 225, Shop No. 1, Subbarayapillai Street.' The car then received a new registration number, PYCQ 0012, from Puducherry.

A response to an RTI query from the Transport Commissionerate has confirmed that, in Kerala’s registration records, Bindu was listed as the first owner of the vehicle and hence her name was marked against the ownership serial number1 . Attempts to seek clarification from the minister went unanswered, as he did not respond to calls.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that the car was sold last month, though no official confirmation has been made.