When the swanky new Mumbai Coastal Road (MCR) phase II was inaugurated on June 10, Raymond Group Chairman Gautam V. Singhania happily loaned his gleaming 94-year-old vintage Rolls-Royce 20/25 for the event. Impressed by the sparkling old beauty, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, gave it an eyeful and then plonked on its comfy seats for the short ride on the MCR -- blissfully unaware of a tiny error on its number plate.
The jaunt in the car of a bygone era caught the eyes of the nation -- and some alert RTO officials and citizens, too -- who made a few discreet inquiries that allegedly threw up some unnerving details. After getting the tip, a Thane social worker Binu Varghese delved into the RR 20/25's antecedents with the help of RTO officials and discovered that the open-top car was probably plying ‘illegally' on the roads. Among the shockers that emerged were: the enchanting RR's ‘fitness' validity had expired in January 2024, taxes had not been paid from April 2022, Insurance expired in January 2023, and no PUC after September 2022.
Further deep dive revealed that the RR's papers had not been transferred from Maharashtra to Telangana for over two years despite getting NOC, and its number plate (MH-04-JU-4733) actually belonged to some truck. “This means that the car was moving around illegally and even carried some top VVIPs. In case of any mishap, nothing could be done legally as the vehicle was like a ‘laawaris' (orphan),�.
