A video of a scuffle between a couple of police personnel and motorists in Velachery went viral on social media on Wednesday.
The caption of the footage read, “Police personnel beat up a motorist who refused to pay ₹100 bribe.” However, two completely different versions of the story emerged during the course of the day.
The video showed an uniformed officer pushing a person, who then held him in a bind. Another police officer comes to the rescue of his colleague. Other motorists gather and shout at the police personnel, while one of them shoots the whole incident on his mobile phone. Police officers then ask them to disperse while one of the motorists abuses them.
However, police have a different account of the incident. On March 21 at 12.30 p.m., Karthikeya Pandian, reserve sub-inspector (RSI) attached to the Velachery Traffic unit was on duty near Kazhana Jewellery at Vijayanagar. He intercepted R. Ragesh, who was riding a bike without a helmet, and fined him ₹100 for the offence and issued a receipt.
However, Mr. Ragesh refused to pay the fine and tore up the receipt. Police said he abused Mr. Pandian. He was warned that his vehicle would be confiscated if did not pay the spot fine.
But Mr. Ragesh picked up a quarrel with other police personnel on duty.
A press release from the office of City Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan said an inquiry with the police officer had revealed that he had issued an e-challan receipt to the motorist and asked him to pay only ₹100 fine.
‘No demand for bribe’
“It has been proven that Mr. Pandian has neither asked excess amount nor did he demand a bribe.”
Based on the complaint given by him, the Velachery police booked a criminal case against Mr. Ragesh and seven others.
