After 11 wrong e-challans, mid-day tracks owner of offending scooter

After four months of being bombarded by 11 wrong echallans for illegal parking midday photographer Suresh Karkera a bike owner along with a midday team managed to track down the owner of the offending scooter that Karkera was being fined forKarkera who owns a motorcycle Bajaj Avenger Cruise 220 had been receiving echallans on his mobile number since April 10 for parking a TVS Jupiter scooter in a noparking zone at R A Kidwai Marg Karkera has never parked his motorbike thereAlso ReadMumbai Probe ordered against traffic cops who bypass echallansMansoor Ali Khan who now owns the scooter that midday found at RA Kidwai MargDespite repeated requests and reminders to the traffic departments multimedia cell through emails and calls that the echallan had been issued to the wrong person the department never once bothered to find out the facts of the matterAlso ReadMumbai Man receives multiple echallans for illegal parking of scooter he doesnt ownTill August 10 Karkera had received 10 echallans for the scooter with the registration number MH 01 CX 4644 On checking with the Mumbai Traffic App Karkera found that all the challans were issued for the same TVS Jupiter scooter When the 11th challan arrived on August 17 midday decided to get to the root of the mysteryThe RC card mentions the name of its first owner Rajkumar Gupta PicsSuraj Ojha Suresh KarkeraInvestigationsPart IThe team first visited the traffic department with the images retrieved from the Mumbai Traffic Police MTP app After inquiring with dozens of traffic constables the team finally found the one who had taken the photograph of the scooter when it was parked in a No Parking area on August 17 The constable told us that he remotely remembers taking the photograph near Gynaneshwar Vidyalaya on P DMello Road between Wadala and SewriPart IIThe midday team visited the spot and inquired with the locals and shopkeepers for any details about the vehicle After several hours of searching and inquiring the team was lucky to trace the vehicle and interestingly it was parked at the very same No Parking spot But this was not the end of the problemAlso ReadNo echallans here just pay and settle the matter say Thane traffic policeThe TVS Jupiter scooter wrongly parker on R A Kidwai MargPart IIIOnce the team spotted the scooter they decided to wait till the owner came But 30 minutes later when none came the team alerted the traffic department to the exact location of the scooter The midday team then tipped off RAK Marg police and a constable accompanied the team to the spot the traffic cops too arrived halfanhour laterThe traffic cops towed away the scooter and parked it on the premises of RAK Marg police station With the help of a local mechanic the base frame of the scooter was studied and the chassis number was jotted downPart IVThe next day the midday team procured the actual registration number of the scooter and tracked down the owners address at the elite Parivar Safalya building in Sewri The team inquired about the owner Raj Kumar Gupta but learnt that Gupta has sold his property Gupta runs two garment shops in Wadala and Dadar The team was told that Gupta can be found at National Market Wadala After inquiring with nearly a dozen people the team bumped into an old friend who dialled Guptas number who told midday that he had gifted his scooter to a tailor Mansoor Ali Khan last Diwali Gupta according to him had advised the tailor to transfer the ownership on his name but he didnt said Gupta adding I gifted away the scooter after riding it for a few months Now with the help of Guptas friend midday tracked down Khan who blamed his dealer then alleged that he was no more He said The agent has botched up the registration number plates We were given two plates first MH 01 CX 1837 which ultimately turned out to be a fraud and later MH 01 CX 4644 I have been requesting Gupta to give me the documents of the scooter so that I can get the ownership changed to my name The insurance of the scooter too is pending because of this It is the reason I have been riding it only locally said Khan He said he has been suffering due to the lackadaisical nature of Gupta and the agent Gupta was surprised to hear this He checked the Copy of Registration RC book of the scooter and the number mentioned in it did not match the scooters number plateConclusionThe number of the scooter is the same as that of Karkeras motorbike as instead of MH 01 CY 4644 Guptas scooter bears the number MH 01 CX 4644 which is the bona fide registration number of Karkeras bike The change in one letter kickstarted Karkeras harassment through echallans A pending bill of R2200 too is pending against the numberNo one to help about wrong echallansWhen I noticed that 10 echallans were issued to me for parking violations I immediately tried to contact the traffic helpline However the number was constantly not reachable said Suresh who lives at Pratiksha Nagar Sion East Suresh had on August 11 filed a police complaint regarding the wrong issuance of echallans but has not received a response yetCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates