Maninagar resident Abhishek Kadhiya is in a quandary. Over the last few months, he has been receiving traffic challans, though he hasn't broken any traffic rules. In fact, he doesn't even ride the vehicle which is said to have broken the rules; the two-wheeler in question was stolen five years ago, and despite complaints, hasn't been recovered. And that's when he decided to probe the mystery. Looking under the surface revealed that the stolen bike is still being ridden on the streets of Ahmedabad.
When Kadhiya received six e-challans since October last year, he approached the traffic department and checked the CCTV footage. A girl was spotted riding the two-wheeler, and all three challans were issued for violating the stop line at the Paldi crossroads. The errors took place on October 24, November 13 and November 27 last year.
Kadhiya says the vehicle was stolen five years ago. And despite a written application to the Ahmedabad police commissioner, no action was taken to nab the person who stole it, nor against the person who's using the stolen vehicle currently.
On December 15, 2018, he approached the Ahmedabad police commissioner. But even after his application was sent to the concerned police officials, he continued receiving the e-challans, getting one each on January 4, January 10 and March 4 this year.
AK Singh, Ahmedabad police commissioner, however, said he doesn't remember this particular case. "I receive several applications daily. But if someone is getting e-challans for stolen vehicles, it would be easy for our cops to track down the vehicle and solve the case," Singh said.