Kollam, Kerala: The Kerala Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) in Punalur has uncovered a suspected inter-state vehicle fraud after a two-wheeler, previously scrapped by the state government, was brought for re-registration using forged documents claiming it was abandoned by the Indian armed forces, officials said on Monday.

The MVD revealed details of the suspected fraud in a recent Facebook post.

The case surfaced when a Royal Enfield motorcycle bearing registration number HP-47-A-4670 was presented at the Punalur Sub-Regional Transport Office for re-registration. During inspection, Assistant Motor Vehicle Inspector Simod V S noticed irregularities in the chassis number and proceeded to verify the details through the Parivahan database.

“From the verification, we found that the motorcycle was originally registered in Thiruvananthapuram RTO under the number KL-01-AV-4409 as a state government vehicle used by the Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB). It was scrapped a few years back, and the vehicle registration was cancelled,” an MVD officer told PTI.

As per Kerala’s policy, government vehicles are scrapped after 15 years of service and cannot be re-registered or resold for use.

When questioned, the person who brought the motorcycle said he had purchased it from a pre-owned vehicle dealer in Malappuram, who allegedly sourced it from Haryana. “The current owner seems to be unaware of the registration fraud,” the officer said.

What stunned officials was that the scrapped vehicle from Kerala had been falsely documented as an ex-Army auctioned motorcycle and registered at the Dalhousie RTO in Himachal Pradesh. “Parivahan records show that it was purchased from the Army on July 22, 2025, and was re-registered fraudulently on July 24, 2025, using forged documents,” the official added.

MVD suspects that the vehicle, meant solely for scrapping, was illegally sold to out-of-state dealers, who then used fake papers to secure fresh registration.

The motorcycle has been handed over to the police for a detailed investigation. Punalur police will register a case and probe the fraud, the official said.