The Mumbai traffic police have decided to initiate legal action against a citizen, Prabhat Tiwari, who recently claimed that his electric vehicle was towed away even as it was being charged at a point near Mantralaya. On December 5, Tiwari made a video of a traffic constable near the Mantralaya chowky and accused him of illegally towing away his vehicle and engaging in "vasooli" (extorting money). His video went viral, and several motorists slammed the traffic cops for being "unfair" to Tiwari.
Investigation Reveals Baseless Claims
Incensed by the attack on social media, the traffic police decided to get to the bottom of the matter and, in the process, claimed that Tiwari's claims were totally baseless. A study of the charging point revealed that Tiwari had not charged his vehicle at this point at all. The cops provided a reading of all the charging done at the particular point near Mantralaya and found that Tiwari's vehicle was not charged there in the first place. They justified the towing and issuing of a challan since the vehicle was in a no-parking area.
The traffic police further stated that to access the charging point, one needs to use an App. Their investigation revealed that Tiwari had not used that App at all.
Apparently stung by the public criticism of extortion, the police inquired with Jio-BP Pulse, the vehicle charging company. The company denied that Tiwari's vehicle was near Mantralaya on the relevant day. Only owners of six vehicles charged their cars at that particular charging point, and Tiwari's vehicle was definitely not one of them. The six vehicles included five taxis and a private vehicle that did not belong to Tiwari. Also, he had not logged on to the company's App; his last log was on November 7, 2023. The police dug out details of all vehicles that were charged at that point near Mantralaya from December 4 to 6, and Tiwari's car was nowhere in the picture.
Tiwari's Response and CCTV Mention
In response, Tiwari, via X, said, “Please check the CCTV and time frame associated with the claim of charging and its removal from the spot. The charger was plugged, and it was not working at 12:00 hours. It should be investigated why and who unplugged and dragged the car.”
Finally, MTP dug out Tiwari’s traffic violation history and found that he had two violations on his vehicle: one for no parking and another for jumping signal.
Tiwari responded by saying that, “For the no parking, it was complained to your grievance addressal, but the complaint was denied. The signal jumping was a mistake of non-working lights which both the policeman and I agreed. The policeman also said ‘500 rupee he hai sir, aap free ho tab bhar dena’.”
