'Son of senior cop' slaps inspector for daring to stop drunk friend

A man claiming to be the son of a senior police officer reportedly slapped a traffic inspector as he tried to book him and his friend for speeding, drunk-driving and obstructing a law-enforcement officer.

M A Mohammad, the inspector of Airport traffic police station, was checking motorists for drunk-driving at Doddanekkundi, southeast Bengaluru, in the early hours of Sunday.

Around 2.45 am, the police control room received a call that two men carrying lethal weapons were on the prowl at a nearby traffic junction. The control room alerted Ramachandra B, the inspector of the jurisdictional Mahadevapura police station. It also sent a message to Mohammad since he was not far from the said location.

The two inspectors, along with other police officers, rushed to the spot but there was no trace of the armed men. They were about to leave when a man approached them, saying two unidentified men had taken away his motorcycle. He gave the registration number of his motorcycle. Mohammad contacted the control room and gave the motorcycle’s number.

Just then, the inspector saw a motorcyclist trying to speed at the sight of the policemen. The sleuths lunged at him and pinned him down. The man, identified as Alok (30), tried to get away by saying his father was a gazetted officer. When police asked him to produce the motorcycle’s documents, he got into an argument with them. Police subjected him to an alcometer test and he was found to be drunk. His motorcycle was confiscated and he was asked to collect it from the police station.

Alok panicked and called up a friend named Priyanshu, requesting him to come to his rescue. Priyanshu reached the spot quickly and confronted the police for confiscating Alok’s vehicle.

The inspector warned Priyanshu of booking if he obstructed him. Priyanshu then claimed that his father was a senior police officer, and said police could not book him or his friend. Mohammad ignored him and registered a case. Priyanshu got angry and slapped him in the face. Constables caught him down as he tried to flee.

The men, both from Bihar and employed at a private firm in CV Raman Nagar, have been booked under IPC Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty). They were produced before a magistrate who remanded him in judicial custody.