Towing boy collects traffic fine, cop in trouble

An assistant sub-inspector is in the dock for allegedly giving his Personal Digital Assistant device to a towing boy who was found operating and collecting fine and also assaulting a motorist.

The towing boy and his colleagues assaulted Kiran Murthy, a motorist, when he questioned him about using the device.

Murthy had parked his bike near the Baptist Hospital. Since it was a no-parking area, the towing boys took away his bike. The boy asked him to pay
Rs 1,600. When Murthy gave Rs 2,000 note, he returned Rs 1,000 instead of Rs 400. Murthy asked for a receipt and asked the boy who authorised him to operate the device and collect fine, resulting in an argument.

When Murthy tried filming the incident, two other towing staff got together to assault him. Murthy made a video complaint to the ASI, besides approaching the RT Nagar police, and uploaded the video to social media.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) B R Ravikanthe Gowda said he directed the DCP to probe the issue and submit a report. A preliminary probe showed the ASI in charge of the towing vehicle, Jayaprakash, left the PDA in the vehicle to have lunch when the towing boy began using the device.

DCP North (Traffic) Sara Fathima said a show-cause notice had been issued to Jayaprakash to appear
before the senior officer to explain why action cannot be taken against him for
dereliction of duty and allowing the towing boy to collect fine.