Himachal Pradesh News
Himachal Pradesh : Unauthorised access to VAHAN portal detected at Solan RLA; FIR registered
Unauthorised access to the VAHAN portal at the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA), Solan, has come to light, leading to the illegal registration of three commercial vehicles and triggering concerns over internal collusion, procedural lapses and the possibility of a larger racket aimed at legitimising stolen vehicles.
Unauthorised access to the VAHAN portal at the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA), Solan, has come to light, leading to the illegal registration of three commercial vehicles and triggering concerns over internal collusion, procedural lapses and the possibility of a larger racket aimed at legitimising stolen vehicles.
An internal probe by RLA officials revealed that three commercial vehicles — HP14D-4512, HP14D-4582 and HP14D-4586 — were registered on the VAHAN portal under suspicious circumstances. The vehicles were originally registered in Uttar Pradesh and were later re-registered at Solan allegedly without mandatory physical verification by the Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI), a critical requirement under transport rules.
Officials found it suspicious that the vehicles were later transferred to RLA-Jhanduta in Bilaspur district, raising doubts over the entire chain of registration and ownership transfer. The manner in which the transactions were carried out pointed towards possible connivance between officials and external elements, officials said.
Since all VAHAN portal transactions require OTP-based authentication through official mobile numbers and email IDs, the RLA suspected deliberate misuse of authorised credentials. Acting on inputs from the MVI regarding irregularities, officials conducted a detailed scrutiny of portal access logs and transaction records.
The inquiry revealed that a concerned official allegedly used multiple user logins and more than one registered mobile number, while also exercising multiple system roles, including administrative privileges. Officials suspect that powers were either self-delegated or shared with others to execute unauthorised transactions.
Details of the official’s multiple user IDs were shared with the police for verification. During the internal inquiry, however, the official denied involvement in the vehicle verification process and claimed that the IP addresses used during verification did not originate from RLA-Solan. Police are currently examining both technical and procedural aspects of the case.
Another major irregularity detected was the unauthorised enhancement of the laden weight of the vehicles after initial registration. Officials described this as a serious manipulation of official records, allegedly done to confer undue benefits to the vehicles concerned.
Following the revelations, the Solan Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) lodged a formal complaint with the police. An FIR was registered on January 26 at Sadar police station under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for cheating.
Confirming the development, Solan Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh said preliminary investigations indicated possible unauthorised access to the VAHAN portal, through which three stolen vehicles may have been illegally registered without approval. He added that the probe had so far uncovered procedural violations, unauthorised data alteration and illegal transfer of commercial vehicles.
Police are now examining call detail records, login histories and access credentials to determine whether official IDs were shared with unauthorised persons or whether alternative methods were used to breach the system. Investigations are ongoing to ascertain the scale of the breach and identify all individuals involved.
