The CEO of an IT firm made headlines in Kerala by shelling out nearly Rs 46 lakh for a special vehicle registration number at an auction in Kochi. Venu Gopalakrishnan, the founder and CEO of Litmus 7 Systems Consulting Pvt Ltd, secured the number ‘KL 07 DG 0007’ for his Rs 4 crore Lamborghini Urus Performante. This purchase set a new record for the most expensive fancy number ever sold in the state.
The coveted number ‘0007’ was acquired for a staggering Rs 45.99 lakh during an online auction conducted by the Motor Vehicles Department on April 7.
Venu later took to Instagram to unveil his striking lime green Lamborghini Urus, proudly calling it the first of its kind in Kerala. “The wait is over! Meet the newest addition to our family – Lamborghini Urus Performante, Kerala’s first. And it’s making headlines with its record-breaking number ‘KL 07 DG 0007’,” he wrote in the caption.
Watch the video here
A scroll through his Instagram reveals his passion for high-performance machines, with recent posts featuring a Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato and a BMW M1000 XR superbike.
The auction for the ‘0007’ number began modestly, with five participants initially placing Rs 25,000 bids. What followed was an intense bidding war, narrowing down to just two contenders. Gopalakrishnan eventually outbid the competition with a final offer of Rs 45.99 lakh, overtaking the second-highest bid of Rs 44.84 lakh.
Another fancy number, KL-07 DG 0001, was also up for grabs in the same auction and fetched Rs 25.52 lakh. The state government has categorised fancy vehicle numbers into six tiers, with base prices ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 1 lakh. The number “1” remains one of the most coveted, starting at Rs 1 lakh.