Documents of luxury car sold in 2019 still in actor’s name; insurance too unpaid

Bengaluru: The Rolls Royce Phantom car that was once owned by Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan has been seized in Bengaluru by the Transport Department for not having valid documents and insurance.

The luxury car (MH 02, BB 2) worth over Rs. 3.5 crore, is still registered in the name of ‘Big B’ despite the actor selling the car to Babu of Umrah Developers in Bengaluru in 2019. 

Amitabh Bachchan is famous for his love of fancy cars and owns a Mercedes S-Class, a Range Rover, a Bentley GT and a Lexus SUV.

The Rolls Royce Phantom, however, has remained in the actor’s name as it was not transferred to Babu’s name. 

The luxury car was gifted to him by filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra after the two worked together on 2007’s Eklavya: The Royal Guard. It is not yet clear how much did Babu pay Amitabh Bachchan to purchase the luxury on wheels.

Additional Commissioner of Transport Department Narendra Holkar and RTO Inspector Thippeswamy led the raids on luxury cars and Holkar told reporters that Big B’s Rolls Royce did not have valid insurance papers too and the insurance had lapsed two years back. Babu did not get the car transferred to his name as per law as he did not want the celebrity status attached to the car to change.

Along with Amitabh Bachchan’s car, 10 more luxury cars too including Porsche and Ferrari have been seized for violations. Holkar said that to avoid taxes in Karnataka, car owners get their luxury vehicles registered in other States like Pondicherry where the taxes are low.  

Notices have also been served to the owners to produce valid documents and the luxury vehicles have been impounded.