In June this year, Tanmay Shekhawat was one of the few lucky students to have cracked the IIT-JEE Advanced exam. Impressed by his excellent performance, Samarpan Career Institute in the Sikar district of Rajasthan where he studied, had gifted him a BMW car. Who wouldn’t be thrilled!
But turns out that maintaining a luxury car is no mean feat and the generous gift has become no less than a headache for the Shekhawat family. For starters, even if the family decides to keep the Rs 28-lakh car, they will have to pay 33% of the price as tax which amounts to Rs 9 lakh. Even one service costs Rs 85,000.
Now, in a dramatic turn of events, Tanmaya’s father Rajeshwar Singh Shekhawat ( a school teacher) troubled by the high maintenance and running costs of the BMW, has asked the institute director to sell the car and give them the money instead. Or perhaps, a laptop for his son, reported Hindustan Times.
Though the coaching institute has another story to offer. Speaking to HT, the institute director said, “Earlier they wanted to keep it. They said the boy’s maternal uncle in Mumbai could keep it. Now they want to sell it as they need money for the treatment of the boy’s mother, who is a kidney patient.”
However, the institute has agreed to put up the car for sale.
In a similar incident, Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar, who was also gifted a BMW for her stellar performance at 2016 Rio Olympics, returned the car as the roads in her hometown of Agartala, Tripura were too narrow for it and the fact that there were no BMW showrooms in the city.