Zero-sum game: CH 01 AS 0001 goes for Rs 8,00,000

He came half an hour late and placed the highest bid for 0001 and took the number away in a jiffy.

He came half an hour late and placed the highest bid for 0001 and took the number away in a jiffy. Yes,the bidding for the most preferred registration number 0001 in the new series CH 01 AS was as smooth as this on Monday.

Sukhwinder Turka,managing director of K T Land Developers Pvt limited,who bought the number for Rs 8 lakh for his fancy Range Rover worth Rs 1 crore,was unperturbed by the media frenzy around him. Instead he exhibited an absolutely calm body language,posing happily for the shutterbugs alongside his prized possession,a shining maroon-black SUV,parked on the busy road outside the RLA office.

Even the traffic police vehicle on the road which was continuously announcing through the microphone for the vehicle to be removed from the roadside could not remove the owner who was happily getting clicked.

I have eight-nine vehicles and all of them bear single-digit numbers like 0003,0005 and 0009. Only 0001 was missing. I am very happy that I could buy it today for the vehicle which my five-year-old son had chosen, he told Chandigarh Newsline.

I recently got hydraulic gates installed at my house and a huge garage so that all my vehicles can fit in. I have a house in Ambala,other than the one here,which is spread over one acre of land, he said. In fact,I am waiting for the delivery of Harley Davidson bike which I recently got booked for my elder son. I will try to get the same number for his bike as well.

Interestingly,during the last auction,the number 0001 in the series CH 01 AR had gone under the hammer for Rs 10.05 lakh and was bought by Mahant Chotu Nath,22.

The second highest amount in Mondays auction was fetched by CH 01 AS 0009,which was bought by Radha Raman Automobiles for Rs 4.25 lakh. The third highest amount,Rs 3.55 lakh,was fetched by the number CH 01 AS 0100.

Story continues below this ad

There were a total of 98 numbers which were kept in the auction. Out of these,94 could be auctioned and the remaining were kept in abeyance as the bidders did not turn up. The RLA earned around Rs 55 lakh by auctioning 94 numbers.

In this series,0002 went for Rs 1.01 lakh,0003 went for 1.2 lakh,0004 went for Rs 1.82 lakh,0005 went for Rs 1.65 lakh,0006 went for Rs 1.51,0007 went for Rs 1.36 lakh and 0008 went for a mere Rs 85,000 while CH 01 AS fetched Rs 1.8 lakh.