Kochi: A thriving racket was facilitating registration of luxury vehicles in Puducherry using fake documents to evade tax, the prosecution told the Kerala High Court on Wednesday.
It also informed the court that actor and MP Suresh Gopi, who is involved in a case of alleged tax evasion in registering his luxury vehicles in Puducherry, has not cooperated with the probe. And that he allegedly did not submit the necessary documents.
The HC extended the stay on his arrest to one more week.
The prosecution will present the case diary of crime branch during the hearing of the anticipatory bail plea moved by Suresh Gopi. The next hearing has been posted for January 9.
The prosecution said that nearly 1,500 vehicles have been registered in Puducherry to evade tax. Agents and those linked to the motor vehicles department are behind this racket.
Such registrations have come down by 10% in the wake of the ongoing cases related to tax evasion, it said.
However, the petitioner's lawyers said that the vehicle was bought in Kerala and the state's motor vehicles department had given an NOC.
The vehicles are serviced in Kerala itself because they were bought here. Suresh Gopi, in his plea, said that he and his siblings had farms in Puducherry and nearby areas and hence he registered his vehicles the union territory.
Read more: Latest Kerala news | Court orders Vigilance probe against Thomas Chandy