A man complained to the IPCA after he was arrested, and his car was towed. He provided documentation showing he had legally purchased the car from the previous registered owner.
Police looked into the ownership of the car and found another person had registered the car into their name a few days after the complainant bought it. This other person then reported the car stolen which is why Police arrested the complainant, as he was no longer the registered owner.
Police have now charged the individual responsible and returned the car to the complainant.
The Authority raised concerns with Police that vehicle registration details can be easily changed and shouldn’t be relied on to prove ownership. Police acknowledged they had taken insufficient steps to verify ownership before arresting the man and wrote to him to apologise.
IPCA: 23-16295