Powai police have registered a case against an alleged Kia Seltos owner and an unidentified number-plate vendor after an authorised manufacturer of High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) alleged that its proprietary security code was illegally copied and used on a vehicle, pointing to a possible counterfeit number-plate racket.

Suspicious plate

The complaint was filed by Ranjit Jha, 45, who oversees quality checks and laser identification code (LID) verification at an authorised HSRP manufacturing company. Jha told mid-day, “Every HSRP carries a unique laser code allotted to authorised manufacturers.” He added that his company has been assigned the code prefix “IF” by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), New Delhi, and no other manufacturer is permitted to use it. The alleged fraud surfaced on February 23 when a man identified as Ganesh arrived at the company’s Powai facility with a Kia Seltos for verification of its HSRP.