Surat: In a surprising incident, a car parked in the basement of a Surat apartment was charged ₹160 at a toll plaza in Vadodara, located over 150 km away. The car owner, Vimalesh Tatede, a finance professional residing in Raghuvir Saffron Apartments in Althan, was shocked to receive a message on April 16 at 10 PM stating that his FASTag had been charged at the Vadodara toll plaza, even though his car had not left the parking lot for over a week.

Despite filing complaints with both the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and South Indian Bank (his FASTag provider), Tatede received no clear response or refund. He also attempted to file a written complaint with Althan police and the Surat Police Commissioner’s office, but alleges that the police refused to register his complaint.

Tatede suspects either misuse of his car number via a fake number plate or duplication of his FASTag information. “It’s not just about ₹160, but the possibility of misuse and larger fraud. If this could happen once, it could happen again,” he said.

According to highway experts, FASTag systems use RFID technology for automatic scanning. However, in cases of technical glitches, toll staff may manually enter vehicle numbers — often leading to errors or unintended deductions. There is also the possibility of toll deductions from genuine FASTags if a duplicate or fake vehicle with the same number passes through a toll gate.

The incident has sparked renewed questions about the transparency and reliability of FASTag systems, and raised concerns over how such errors or fraud are being addressed by authorities. DeshGujarat