Mumbai: 2 cars with same number plate outside Taj Mahal Hotel prompt probe

Police in Maharashtra's Mumbai on Monday started probe over two cars that found parked near the iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel with same number plates, news agency PTI reported.

The two cars with the same number plate found outside the hotel at Mumbai's Colaba were taken to police station there along with the driver of the vehicles.

Colaba Police said that Sakir Ali, a resident of Nariman Point, has an Ertiga with the number plate MH01 EE 2388 and is the original owner of the car.

On Monday, while he was in front of Gateway of India, Sakir Ali found another Ertiga car with the same model and number plate, post which he informed the nearby Regional Transport Office (RTO).

Both the cars were brought to Colaba Police station and after an investigation, it was found that Prasad Kadam, a resident of Seawoods in Navi Mumbai, had made changes to his car's number plate intentionally because he had taken a car loan from Chola Mandlam and was unable to pay it off, Colaba Police said.

The statements of the drivers were recorded and further action will follow based on the details they give, an official said.

26/11 attacks

Taj Mahal Palace Hotel of Colaba in South Mumbai is a luxury hotel which was one of the main targets of terrorists in the 26/11 attacks or the attacks of November 26, 2008, in which over 160 people had lost their lives.

The 2008 Mumbai attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Pakistan-based militant terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out 12 shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across the city, targetting key points like the Taj hotel and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.

A total of 175 people including nine of the attackers, died while more than 300 injured. One attacker was arrested alive and was executed in 2012.