MVD suspends two officials in Tirurangadi RTO office in driving licence scam

Kozhikode: In a major action against a driving licence scam racket, Kerala Motor Vehicles Department has suspended two officials from the Tirurangadi sub-RTO office.The officials — motor vehicle inspector C S George and clerk Najeeb hailing from Tirurangadi — were penalised for allegedly colluding with agents and helping people obtain driving licences without undergoing driving tests. They obtained licences through fraudulent means from Mysuru in Karnataka and altered addresses, signature and photograph to issue Kerala RTO certificate.The transport department has recommended a vigilance inquiry into the scam, given its widespread nature. Investigation indicated that a network of agents, operating mainly from Mysuru, in collusion with Karnataka officials there was facilitating issuance of licences for persons in Mysuru address, which were converted to Kerala addresses with help of local MVD staff.The officials were suspended after it was found that address change request were granted even though the photograph of the licence issued in Mysuru had different photograph.The racket came to light during scrutiny of irregularities in the licence of one Mohammed Basheer from Malappuram. Basheer's licence, originally issued by Mysuru West RTO in Dec last year, bore a different person's photo and signature, raising suspicion. Within days after obtaining the Mysuru licence, Basheer applied to transfer it to a Kerala address and officials at Tirurangadi sub-RTO issued new licence with an address in Malappuram with a new photograph.