An assistant sub inspector of R.T. Nagar traffic police is in the dock for allowing an employee of a towing company to operate his Personal Digital Assistant and collect fines from motorists who had parked their vehicles illegally. As per the law, only officers of ASI rank and above can collect fines.
The incident came to light after a motorcyclist, Kiran Murthy, was allegedly assaulted by an employee of the towing company on Wednesday afternoon on being questioned about the device and his authority to collect fines on behalf of the police.
Kiran’s bike was towed away from the vicinity of Baptist Hospital in Hebbal for a parking violation. When he went to collect the bike, he found an employee of the towing company operating the PDA and collecting fines. The employee checked the PDA and told Kiran to pay ₹1,600. Kiran gave him ₹2,000. The employee returned ₹1,000.
Puzzled, Kiran demanded a receipt, and also asked who had authorised him to operate the device and collect fines. This led to an argument during which other towing staff ganged up and allegedly assaulted Kiran when he tried to record the incident on his phone.
Kiran later filed a complaint with the R.T. Nagar police before uploading photos and videos on social media. Taking cognizance of the incident, Joint Commissioner of Police (traffic) B.R. Ravikanthe Gowda directed the DCP to probe the matter and file a report.
Jayaprakash, the ASI, denied allegations that he had given the PDA to the towing staff. He alleged that the device was taken from his car when he was out for lunch.
DCP Sara Fathima said, “This amounts to dereliction of duty as the towing employee had collected a lesser amount of fine. It led to an ugly fight with a member of the public.” A show cause notice was issued to Jayaprakash who has been summoned by senior officials.
