I-T officer tracks down woman who was using his vehicle’s registration number

Ever since he had bought a scooter in 2017 in his wife’s name, Sanjay Thakur Katekar, who works in the income tax department, would have taken it out only a few times

Ever since he had bought a scooter in 2017 in his wife’s name, Sanjay Thakur Katekar, who works in the income tax department, would have taken it out only a few times.

I-T officer tracks down woman who was using his vehicle’s registration number

However, of late, he started getting e-challan messages from the traffic police for committing several violations. Though he was uncertain about flouting rules, there was no grounds for suspicion since the messages had his vehicle’s registration number. So, as a law-abiding citizen, he paid up the penalty initially.

Then, the messages became frequent and at one time the fine amount reached ₹3,800. Confident that it could have been a mistake, he approached the traffic police. Meanwhile, he received a notice from Lok Adalat to appear before it in this regard.

It was then he decided to get to the bottom of the issue and find out if he was not using his two-wheeler then someone might be using his registration number. By scrutinising the details in the e-challans, he finally tracked down the real offender, a 43-year-old woman from CP Tank in south Mumbai.

The Azad Maidan police on Wednesday arrested the woman, identified as Pinal Navinbhai Parikh.

“On the complaint of a traffic policeman, Sunil Manjarekar, who is attached to Azad Maidan traffic division, we have registered a case against Parikh under section 420 (cheating), 473 (making or possessing counterfeit seal, etc., with intent to commit forgery punishable otherwise), 482 (punishment for using a false property mark) and 483 (counterfeiting a property mark used by another) of the Indian Penal Code and section 179 (disobedience of orders, obstruction and refusal of information) of the Motor Vehicles Act,” a police officer said.

According to the police, the woman runs tuition classes and prima facie, she used somebody else’s registration number to avoid getting e-challans. A court granted her bail on Thursday.

“Katekar, 42, a resident of Antop Hill, used to continuously get messages of e-challans for traffic violations despite not driving his two-wheeler much. He had raised the issue with the traffic police. Recently, the challan amount had gone up to ₹3,800 and he even got a Lok Adalat notice to appear before it,” the police officer said and added the notice disturbed his family as he is a government officer.

On Wednesday, he traced the errant two-wheeler to near Mumbai University and even caught hold of the woman, the police officer added.

“He immediately called for help after which our team reached the spot. Traffic police constable Sunil Manjarekar, who was deployed nearby, too reached there as the woman was trying to flee. She was arrested,” Nitin Tadakhe, senior police inspector at Azad Maidan police station, said.