CHANDIGARH: Call it a craze or trust in power of numerology. Mahant Chhotu Nath , a priest of Shri Guru Gorakshnath Sidh Hanuman Mandir in Sector 19 here, won the bid for CH01-AR-0001 registration number for his Rs 60 lakh worth Audi Q7 by paying Rs 10.5 lakh at an auction on Monday. He defeated seven others who vied for the number.

The mahant's act surprised everyone at the auction. Soon after winning the number, the priest left the registration and licensing authority office along with his two aides who refused to let the media speak to him.

Clad in a saffron-coloured robe, Chhotu Nath reached on time to participate in the bidding which took over 20 minutes. After the first number in the series, no other number could fetch more than Rs 5 lakh. Number 0100 received the second-highest bid of Rs 4.20 lakh and 0009 was auctioned for Rs 4 lakh, followed by 0002 for Rs 3.5 lakh.

Monday's auction fetched Rs 70.82 lakh for the registration and licensing authority. Out of 157 numbers put up for the bidding, 147 were auctioned. RLA had received applications from 816 people of whom 560 were to participate in the auction. The remaining 256 persons had applied for "choice" numbers.