Crackdown on Dhoom wannabes

The John Abraham-starrer Dhoom sparked off a huge interest in fast bikes, and it was the Bandra Reclamation flyover that bikers chose to show off their skills.

The John Abraham-starrer Dhoom sparked off a huge interest in fast bikes, and it was the Bandra Reclamation flyover that bikers chose to show off their skills. Late at night, the speed demons would perform wheelies or race their machines on the reclamation road. But the nuisance they created and the danger they posed led to a flood of complaints from residents and motorists. On Sunday, the cops cracked down.

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Maintaining a vigil from 9 pm, police caught 19 bikers in two hours for reckless driving.

In fact, this is one of the few successful crackdowns against speeding bikers. Though the complaints have been pouring in for a while, police simply couldn’t keep up with the ultra-fast bikes. Investigating Officer Vyankat Barje said: “We did try chasing them several times, but they were so fast that our vans could not keep up with them. They would get away, sometimes by taking sudden U-turns.” He added, “These boys watch movies and try to imitate the actors. This has become a nuisance. They think they can flaunt their bikes and impress people.”

The bikers were kept in the lock-up all of Sunday night and were produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate J.G. Panke the next afternoon. They were released on a bail of Rs 4,000 each.