KOLKATA: Police launched a major drive on Saturday evening that lasted well into midnight against two-wheelers that have been a menace during the festive season. As part of the ongoing block-chain
raids
that has been going on every weekend before the
Puja, as many as 1,644
bikers
were booked for breaking motor vehicle rules in a four-hour operation that started around 8pm. The local cops, though, had launched their own pre-Puja drives even earlier — from 4 pm on Saturday afternoon. Among the 64 booked for rash driving by local cops, at least half are two-wheeler riders. In all, 17 vehicles were seized.
The drive, though, did not end without an incident. A sub-inspector and a sergeant on duty at the Chaulpatty Road in Beliaghata were allegedly assaulted by some youths from Tangra after the police team stopped a 20-year-old biker for not wearing a helmet. According to police, SI Pratap Kundu, along with sergeant Arka Das and other cops, were carrying out raids on Chaulpatty Road near the crossing of Rashmoni Bazar. One Utsab Mukherjee (20), a resident of Kulia who was riding a bike without a helmet, was intercepted by the duo.
“An altercation took place. Mukherjee then suddenly called up some people from his locality over phone. They came to the Rashmoni Bazar area and attacked the cops. A case was later registered against Mukherjee and others on the basis of a complaint by SI Kundu. The accused was arrested and charged under IPC section pertaining to voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty,” said an officer.
. “Rogue biking complaints from added areas post lockdown is the new normal. Reports of rash driving at
night
leading to accidents and the tendency to undermine basic rules at night led us to carry out raids,” said a police officer.
A total of 1,055 persons were also booked for disorderly conduct.
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