Karnataka High Court directs release of Lamborghini, quashes cheating case

A senior motor vehicle inspector, Ranjith N, seized the vehicle on February 7 and towed it away from the owner’s garage. The Kodigehalli police then registered a case under sections 318(4), 336, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhitha for forgery and cheating.

In its order, the court also directed that a departmental inquiry be initiated against the motor vehicle inspector for acting blatantly and contrary to law.

Justice Nagaprasanna said, “You had no mandate to enter somebody’s house and seize the car. You may be the best officer, but the best officer also has to act within the confines of law. Such things should not be repeated.”

Soon after the pronouncement of the order, Additional State Public Prosecutor B N Jagadeesha and the counsel for the inspector pleaded that the direction for a departmental inquiry be read down and that the officer be only issued a warning. The bench then orally said it would consider the request and asked the officer to file a review petition seeking to modify the direction after receiving of the order.

Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Venkatesh S Arbatti informed the court that the petitioner had purchased the vehicle from a dealer and paid Rs 1 crore in GST and Rs 60 lakh towards road tax. The Bengaluru East RTO had registered the vehicle and assigned it a number.

The prosecution had claimed that Harsha Infra Cons Pvt Ltd had earlier purchased the vehicle and taken it to Telangana for registration in 2022. After using it for three years, the company allegedly sold it to the petitioner.

Officials also said that when they scrutinised the documents submitted by the petitioner to the Kasturinagar RTO in September 2025, they found them to be forged and allegedly used to secure fraudulent registration. They also alleged that the vehicle had been undervalued to evade road tax and penalties amounting to over Rs 37 lakh that had accrued during the three-year period.

During the hearing, the bench also expressed surprise that RTO officers were not included in the case, even though they had registered the vehicle. The prosecutor had then submitted that every person in this transaction would be brought to book by registering a case against them.

The court has thus directed the authority to act upon the undertaking that the RTO officers would be brought to book by initiating proceedings for having deleted the car’s data and report the same to the court within two months.