When the Narayanaguda Traffic police stopped a motorist for driving without a helmet on Thursday, they were shocked to find that he was a repeat offender with a lengthy challan list. The motorist had violated traffic rules more than 100 times in the last two years and managed to evade penalties amounting Rs 31,590.
Surprised at the number of the violations, police immediately seized the vehicle — TS 10 ED 9176 Hero Glamour — and filed a chargesheet against the offender, identified as Kaligotla Krishna Prakash, a resident of Alwal.
On Thursday evening, when the police were doing a regular checkup at Himayatnagar Y Junction, they found Krishna Prakash driving without a helmet. While issuing a spot challan for the violation, the police also tried to check if he had any previous violations. During this check, they were stunned to find that he had committed 135 violations and had paid only once, when he was issued a spot challan in June 2016.
As per the Telangana e-challan website, Krishna Prakash was penalised for driving without helmet 46 times at YMCA under the Maredpally police limits, 18-e challans on RP road and 15 challans in Maredpally for the same violation.
Krishna Prakash was also penalised as many as six times for using a cell phone while driving, jumping the signal three times, parking violations and the driving on the wrong side of the road.
After seizing the vehicle, Krishna Prakash was directed to attend a counselling session by the Narayanaguda police. Police said that the violations by Krishna Prakash were serious as it involved cellphone driving and jumping the signal. “Jumping the signal is a dangerous thing to do. It may lead to fatal accidents of pedestrians or motorists coming from the other side,” said Narayanaguda SI Krishna Raju.
He added, “Going by the challans, it is evident that he is a regular offender and also a dangerous rider, with least traffic responsibility.”
“We have filed a chargesheet and will produce him before the court, it is up to the judge on what punishment they would give him. He may also face imprisonment,” Raju said.
Reportedly, Krishna Prakash was not aware of the overwhelming traffic tickets on his vehicle. He told The Hindu, “We can't pay ₹ 31,000 and for the last five months we are not getting our salaries.” He works an accounts manager with a private firm.