CHENNAI: A prolonged two-year probe into a massive scam involving the illicit registration of 359 BS-IV vehicles in Tamil Nadu has led to the arrest of its key perpetrator — Boopathy, a tech-savvy individual working as a contractual programmer with the state’s transport department.
According to officials, the Central Crime Branch’s Forgery Document Investigation Wing arrested Boopathy weeks ago after Joint Transport Commissioner Pon Senthilnathan (Chennai South Zone) filed a formal complaint. The FIR, registered on May 31, includes charges of fraud, document forgery, and cheating.
The scam dates back to between 2019 and 2022, during which Boopathy exploited the login credentials of unsuspecting transport staff to manipulate the department’s digital system. He fraudulently issued registration certificates (RCs) for 359 BS-IV vehicles — a category of vehicles banned for sale from April 1, 2020, following a Supreme Court directive and Union Road Ministry’s order.
An internal review revealed that these unsold vehicles were falsely added into the official database using backdoor entries. Boopathy collaborated with certain auto dealers, using unassigned registration numbers and disguising them as routine updates like ownership transfer or address changes.
While 42 vehicles were registered through the RTO office in Chennai South, the majority — 315 — were processed via the Meenambakkam RTO under Chennai (Southwest).
As a result, transport officials P. Krishnakumar, C. Vijayalakshmi, and K. Karunakaran have been suspended for their compromised credentials being used in the scam.