India, July 8 -- Goa will stop issuing new rental licences for Mahindra Thars, the state transport minister Mauvin Godinho said on Monday, after a string of fatal crashes involving the SUVs turned the vehicle into a contentious road-safety symbol.

Godinho told reporters that a proposal to restrict permits for self-drive rental Thars would be presented to the state transport authority (STA). Had the law allowed it, he said, the government would have banned rental Thars outright because they had "too much speed and no control".

The decision came after two accidents. In February, a rented Thar killed 65-year-old Bhopal tourist Bhagat Ram Sharma at Assagao. In May, a Thar driven by a tourist, believed to be inebriated, killed a 32-year-old ...