Summons sent to top officials of Volkswagen and Audi in cheat devices FIR

The top officials and directors of Audi and Volkswagen in India and Germany have been issued summons by the Gautam Budh Nagar Police to provide critical evidence in the first FIR registered against the automobile majors for installing cheat devices in their cars to misrepresent emissions.

The FIR was filed by Noida resident Aniljit Singh against the top officials of Volkswagen and Audi in India and their headquarters in Germany.

The Noida Sector 20 police station has issued the summons to the officials, including Nitin Kohli, Head of Sales, Audi India, Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head, Audi India, Gurpratap Boparai, Managing Director, Volkswagen India, Herbert Diess, CEO, Volkswagen AG, Germany, and Bram Schot, Chairman, Audi AG, Germany.

The Gautam Budh Nagar Police have posed several queries to these officials who have been asked to provide evidence on these points within seven working days.

The details sought by the police include details of all permissions granted by the Government of India for its diesel vehicles, the number of diesel vehicles sold in the country, the reasons for recall of cars by the VW group, details on permissions on prototype for EA-189 diesel engine, details of all the worldwide cases against VW group for installing fake devices and the judgements passed by the respective courts, the emission problems faced by the group worldwide, the brochures and catalogues of the engines and cars fitted with them and any details on legal action against VW group and Audi initiated in India by the government or the consumers.

The FIR cites forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy under various sections of the IPC.

The complainant had cited the Global Emissions Scandal where VW was found to be installing a cheat device in its cars, in the absence of which the cars produced emissions 10-40 times beyond permissible limits.

Audi had said earlier that its vehicles are compliant with applicable norms. In an earlier statement, Audi India had said, "Audi India has not received any concern from Mr Aniljit Singh. We will look into the matter as and when it is escalated to us. We wish to clarify that all VW group vehicles in India are compliant with applicable norms and the matter pertaining to alleged cheat device is sub-judice pending before the Hon'ble Supreme Court and the Supreme Court has passed an order of no coercive action against the company."