Got this below thru forwarded email (also remember seeing a news snippet in Times of India).

You can now get any vehicle’s details from RTO. Just SMS, RTO followed by registration no. (Example: RTO KA-05-MR-7678) to 56006. This will be very useful in hit & run cases. Pass it on to as many people you know. This works well for Karnataka (KA) registered vehicles only. SMS charge will be Rs.3

I tried with my car number and immediately got response with name, chasis number etc. (no address - thankfully). I am really puzzled with this service. How exactly does this benefit the a common citizen? Even for hit & run cases, the biggest challange is in noting down the number - if one can note down the number the same can be passed on to police who can track down the vehicle.

I see this more as a security risk as it just exposes the vehicle details to any one who can potentially misuse. Not really sure what purpose of this sms service is. I really hope this will be stopped soon.

Filed under: General