Man files RTI plea over Rs 100 traffic fine, gets lunch invite from cops

Panvel resident Rajendra Pratap Gupta has to travel often across the city for attending business meetings During one such trip last October his car was stopped by traffic police opposite Laxmi Industrial Estate in DN Nagar Andheri Gupta and his driver Shantaram identified the constable as Shanmukhanand Gosavi who collected Rs 100 as fine for the vehicle jumping the signal but didnrsquot provide a receipt which every citizen is entitled to Fine line Rajendra Gupta filed an RTI plea to find out why he wasn39t handed a receipt for the traffic fine he had paid on October 12 2012 Speaking to MiD DAY Gupta said ldquoAt the time we crossed the signal the lights had turned orange so this is not precisely a crime Shantaram was driving the car at the time when we were stopped and asked to pay Rs 100 as penalty I didnrsquot argue and gave Gosavi the money Following this he took offrdquo Gupta says he called out to the constable but he replied to him saying that he was only going to get the receipt ldquoBut he never came back I searched around a bit but couldnrsquot locate him anywhere near the junctionrdquo Gupta added Following the episode Gupta filed an application under Right to Information RTI Act asking why he wasnrsquot given a receipt for the Rs 100 he had paid ldquoInstead of replying to me in writing the staff from DN Nagar traffic police started calling me frantically asking me to meet them over lunch and sort out the matterrdquo Gupta says he declined the offer as he felt that the constablersquos conduct was akin to extortion ldquoI received a letter from ACP Govindrao Giri on June 21 from which any layman would conclude that he was trying to save the accused and turning a blind eye towards departmental corruption by not providing me the details I had sought He said that inspector Ravindra Patil had conducted an inquiry and no evidence was found against the constable Gosavi called me later and claimed that he had got a phone call from his senior for which he had to rush to office after collecting the finerdquo This incident had taken place on October 12 last year Gupta added ldquoItrsquos likely that this cop is taking money from a lot of people on a daily basis and not issuing receipts Gosavi called me at 130 pm on March 28 and requested me not to pursue the matterrdquo He maintained that action should also be taken against Giri for encouraging such extortion by junior cops When MiD DAY probed constable Shanmukhanand Gosavi now posted at Gamdevi about the episode he said ldquoWhat evidence does he have in his possession to prove that I have taken Rs 100 from himrdquo He added that drivers of many cars stopped by traffic cops merely place Rs 100 into the hands of the personnel in the form of penalty when asked to show their licences On being asked why did he and his senior call up Gupta to settle the matter if they were innocent he said ldquoInspector Ravindra Patil knew that I wouldnrsquot do anything wrong as in my 10yearlong career not a single complaint has come up against me Thatrsquos why we called himrdquo Get the message Some of the SMSes sent by Ravindra Patil to Gupta gtgt ldquoSir can i call u plshellip inspector Ravi Patil Traffic police DN Nagarrdquo 1213 pm on March 15 2013 gtgt ldquoSir can i call u plshellip inspector Ravi Patil Traffic police DN Nagarrdquo 744 pm on March 18 2013 gtgt ldquoSir no problemhellipwhenever u get time we will meethellip there r some problems which i ve to discuss with youhellip and the people like u r d gem of societygd nt sirrdquo 736 pm on March 19 2013u00a0