2 Ertigas With Same Plates Cause Security Scare - Nationwide HSRP Anyone?

Published: Tuesday, January 7, 2025, 11:31 [IST]

Imagine this-two Maruti Suzuki Ertigas pull up at the iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, both sporting the exact same license plate number. Sounds like the kind of plot twist a Bollywood blockbuster might spring on you, right?

However, this wasn't a scripted drama from a movie or OTT set, instead it was a real-life incident that had the hotel's security on edge and the Mumbai Police scrambling for answers.

Ertiga Showdown at the Taj

It all went down around noon yesterday when two nearly identical Maruti Suzuki Ertigas, both registered as commercial vehicles (Tour M, yellow plates, naturally), crossed paths at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. The location itself is high-security territory-burned into the nation's memory after the 2008 terrorist attacks-which explains why the sight of twin cars with matching plates raised an immediate red flag.

The owner of the Ertiga with the legit plates, Sakir Ali, was quick to spot his doppelgänger. He'd been getting months of bizarre fines and toll violation notices stacking up for places his car had never even been and had been on the lookout for this pseudo twin of his taxi.

The Curious Case of Counterfeit Plates

For over six months, Ali had been roped into this odd debacle by no fault of his own. From regular challans (traffic fines) to toll violations popping up faster than spam emails, Ali was living every honest driver's nightmare. His frustration hit the roof when his driver even spotted the fake Ertiga months ago but couldn't trail it in time.

Fast forward to this morning. Fate intervened as both Ertigas pulled into the Taj driveway. Ali's quick thinking brought about a swift resolution-or, at least, the beginning of one. After a modest attempt at fleeing the scene (which involved the imposter driver literally snatching his keys back), police cornered the offender at last.

However, before you could say MH01EE-WHAT?, the police had the doppelganger and its owner under lock and key.

A Bumpy Ride Through the Loan Lane

Turns out, the second Ertiga's driver had a confession to make and while his escape attempt was the one that bad car chases are made of, his story was a familiar one.

The owner of the second Ertiga, drowning in pending car loan EMIs, found himself staring at the ugly prospect of loan recovery agents breathing down his neck, tweaked the last number on his registration plate from '3' to '8', creating a near-perfect clone of Ali's car on paper.
The logic? If his car looked "officially" like someone else's, repo men wouldn't seize it. Smart? Maybe. Legal? Definitely not.

Lessons from the License Plate Saga

Now awaiting formal charges, the imposter driver faces the long arm of the law and while officials have confirmed that there was no sinister intent behind his clone-number plate creation scheme. The motive was instead financial survival. However, tampering with registration plates isn't something any sane driver should replicate-unless you enjoy spending time in police lockups.

The whole ordeal also once again highlights the need for HSRP plates to be implemented nationwide. These plates are not so easy to tamper with and to get a HSRP plate for your vehicle, details like the engine and chassis number are needed. HSRP plates also sport features like a laser-etched Permanent Identification Number and a tamper-proof snap lock, which make them extremely difficult to duplicate.