The Tirupur North police on Friday evening seized 135 helmets that did not confine to Bureau of Indian Standards specifications and arrested five persons for selling the helmets.
Inspector J. Nagarajan told The Hindu that the arrested were Santhosh Kumar Singh, K. Ajay, Ajay Kumar Jha (all three from Bihar) and Umesh Kumar and Rajesh Kumar Mathur (both from Rajasthan).
“All were charged under sections of Indian Penal Code for cheating the customers,” he said.
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The helmets started flooding into Tirupur soon after the announcement by the city police, a few days ago, of the commencement of the helmet enforcement drive from January 10.
Meanwhile, youngsters formed the majority of those who had been fined for not complying with the helmet enforcement drive.
Over 600 motorcyclists were fined on Friday, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R. Thirunavukkarasu said. Even though the police had announced through media in advance about the helmet enforcement drive, many of the youngsters could be seen driving the motorcycle without the helmet. “If I have to buy a good helmet, it costs about Rs 1,000. But the fine for not wearing is only Rs 100 and the previous experiences show that the police did not sustain with the enforcement drives after an initial enthusiasm,” a young garment unit worker said, after remitting the fine.
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Elderly people understand the importance of safe riding better than the youngsters, police officials said.