Number plate in Kannada confuses in murder probe

BANGALORE: Notwithstanding the tracing of the Maruti 800 car and the weapons used by the alleged killers of Congress Corporator Nataraj on Saturday, the police are still clueless about the perpetrators of the crime because the vehicle continues to be in the name of the original owner despite having been sold  in 2007.Police have traced the owner of the 1989 model Maruti 800 car to Lakshmi Vittal who is the wife of Late D V Ganiga and a resident of Hanumanthanagar. But, she expressed her inability to recall to whom she sold the car as the transaction took place with the help of an agent. “It looks like that there is one Vijaykumar of Herohalli on the outskirts of the city who either bought the vehicle or facilitated the sale, but we are yet to come to any credible conclusion,” policesources told Express here on Sunday.This grave lapse of not transferring the vehicle in his or her name on the part of the person who bought the car only  establishes the glaring fact that the Motor Vehicles Act rules are not being strictly enforced. Had the RTO authorities insisted the owner to get the vehicle registered in his name, it would have been easy for the police to lay their hands on the alleged killers or could have reached nearer to the criminals.Yet another near-lapse that could have proved costly for the police to trace the vehicle is that the number plate of the white Maruti Car was all in Kannada - CKH 4362 - which is difficult to read quickly at times of emergency like that of the Saturday murder.According to the police, a Kannada teacher, who was trying to cross the road, managed to read the number plate and inform the police. The description gave some  indication of the vehicle used by the killers.According to sources, the numbers given by some people was CKH 7632, CKH 3732 and CKH 9372. But it turned to be that of a truck and two two-wheelers. An officer of the rank of Inspector did some permutation with the numbers and arrived at CKH 4362, which turned out to be the  vehicle used by the killer. “It was the same officer who could say almost where the vehicle could be after scanning the CCTV of the nearby circles,” sources added.