Man spends £2k turning family car into ‘helicopter’ – only to have it immediately seized

An Indian man’s dream to own a car that looked like a helicopter came crashing down after the police seized the vehicle on the day it hit the road.

Ishwar Deen, a resident of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, spent Rs 250,000 (£2k) and worked on his family car for more than two months to make it look like a helicopter, reported news agency ANI.

Mr Deen welded a helicopter’s rotor blade onto the car’s roof and attached the tail boom to the boot of the vehicle which he named “car copter”.

He was on his way to a workshop to get it painted when it was stopped by a traffic police personnel who seized the chopper-car for violating motor rules and fined its maker Rs 2,000 (£18.94).

An investigation has been launched, police said.

Mr Deen had customised his Maruti Suzuki Wagon R to rent it out to people as a special attraction on weddings.

He told the news agency that he was disheartened that his unique vehicle, for which he “worked day and night”, had been confiscated. He was told it will be only returned if he dismantled the parts of the helicopter.

“Modified cars such as jeeps are running on the roads everywhere in Pratapgarh and Bihar without any restrictions. It was only meant to be used during weddings and will not ply on the roads otherwise,” Mr Deen said.

"I had transformed the car to use it for booking during the wedding seasons so that our family will be able to earn some extra money," he said.

A video showed locals gathered to see the unique vehicle as it was parked outside the police station after being confiscated.

The police said the car was confiscated as it was modified without proper authorisation under the Motor Vehicles Act.

“Yesterday, a modified car was seized. Due to the enforcement of the Model code of Conduct, police have been conducting vehicle checks and this modified car was intercepted by traffic police during one such inspection,” police officer Vishal Pandey said.