Woman driver booked for using fake number plate to avoid traffic challans in Hyderabad

A woman’s Honda City vehicle (right) was impounded by the Hyderabad traffic police for having a fake number plate as the original car. | Photo credit: By arrangement

A series of traffic challans issued to the wrong owner of a sedan led the Hyderabad police to unearth the car’s owner, who allegedly drove the vehicle with a fake registration number for nearly three years to avoid enforcement.

The case came to light after Mohd Qutubuddin Sanjary, a resident of Shahalibanda, complained that he was getting e-challans for traffic violations in Falaknuma and Narsingi, even though his black Honda City was not at those places. His car bears registration number AP 09 BV 5544.

The traffic police first verified the details of Sanjary’s vehicle, including the registration certificate, engine number and chassis number, all matched the official records. When the right vehicle was ruled out, the investigators started tracking the car seen in the challan images.

Their probe led them to another black Honda City at the Epic Rivera Apartments, where they discovered a female resident was using a similar vehicle with the same license plate. While investigating one of Falaknum’s violations, police identified the temporary driver behind the wheel and obtained the apartment’s address.

When the car was searched at the police station, officers found that although it had registration plate AP 09 BV 5544 and its occupants had produced a copy of the registration certificate with that number, the engine and chassis numbers did not match the official records. Further verification revealed that the vehicle’s original registration number was AP 31 BP 7979.

Police identified the passengers as B. Karuna, 35, a resident of Kokapet, and the driver, B. Naveen Kumar, 30. During interrogation, Karuna allegedly confessed that she had deliberately replaced the original registration plate with AP 09 BV 5544 to avoid traffic challans.

According to investigators, the car was plying with the fake number plate since 2023. During that time, seven traffic challans were issued on the cloned number plate, four of which have already been paid.

The car was impounded and handed over to the Malakpet police station. A case under Section 318(4) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 158 read with Section 177 of the Motor Vehicles Act was registered against the duo. Further investigation is underway.

Published – 03 Jul 2026 19:21 IST