The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Confiscated, towed, parked and then forgotten

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 19, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Confiscated, towed, parked and then forgotten

LAW &ORDER What happens to vehicles seized by the police for various offences? L. Srikrishna attempts to find out

ABANDONED: Vehicles seized by police for reported use in crimes lying at a city police station. — PHOTO: K. PICHUMANI

First, the short answer to the question: the seized vehicles are parked in or near the respective police stations. Over weeks and months, these vehicles virtually fall apart as key parts either go missing or are vandalised.

According to a retired police officer, three cases are registered by various wings of the police daily, which add up to 90 vehicles a month and 1,080 vehicles a year in a metropolis like Chennai.

Prohibition offences

Even conceding the police claim that the prohibition offences have fallen drastically now, the number of vehicles seized by the police should be about 500 per year — this includes two-wheelers, four-wheelers, lorries, tankers etc.

Apart from vehicles seized for prohibition offences, police are also in the possession of scores of vehicles used to commit crimes.

For instance, the City Crime Branch police, just a few days ago, arrested Maya Venkatesan on charges of cheating several people of crores of rupees and had him sent to jail on remand. They said that Venkatesan had collected money from several contractors by claiming that he was putting up a cement factory in Tuticorin district; the sums collected were, according to him, by way of an earnest money deposit. A luxury car, reportedly belonging to Maya Venkatesan, seized in the operation, is now lying in the Commissioner's office for the last 10 days. There are many such cases, police admit.

"There should be several thousands of vehicles lying in various stations and other offices of the police department in Chennai city alone", a senior officer said. He claimed that the department returned the seized vehicles to the rightful owners when it was clear that they did not know about misuse of the vehicles by others.

The police returned the vehicles to the owners on the condition that the vehicle would be produced whenever asked for, he claimed.

All India Bar Association vice-chairman S Prabhakaran said that confiscation of vehicles involved in crimes and parking them in the open left the vehicles at the mercy of the weather and exposed them to vandalism.

By doing so, the government also loses out on revenue, as taxes for these vehicles are not paid.

Top authorities

He said lawyers had taken up the issue with the top authorities but nothing much had come out of it. A recovery officer in a hire-purchase company said that when vehicles financed by the company were involved in cases of smuggling or other offences, police refuse to hand over the vehicle. The delay in handover leads to several other problems. "Even if we want to sell the vehicle and recover our money," it is not possible, he said.

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