Mumbai businessman pays Rs. 1 lakh in speeding fines

According to a media report, Rahil Mehta, a Mumbai-based businessman, has paid Rs. 1.04 lakh after getting caught speeding on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link 103 times. The diamond trader now has the highest accumulated penalties paid since the e-challan system was introduced.

The businessman, who stays in the Malabar Hill area, uses the Sea Link to reach his office in Bandra Kurla Complex. The bridge has a speed limit of 80 km/h. However, Rahil's cars were caught crossing 100 km/h on several occasions. His Honda Accord was caught 84 times, while his BMW was caught 19 times.

The issue came to light after the said Honda Accord was seen in a no-parking zone at Crawford Market on September 23, 2018. A constable ran the car's registration number on the handheld e-challan device only to find that it had Rs. 85,000 in unpaid fines. The car was towed away and Mehta then offered to pay the penalty. The businessman did not know that his cars had so many pending e-challans as he had not received any communication from the traffic police.

Ever since the e-challan system came into force in October 2016, the police have issued more than 53 lakh e-challans amounting to around Rs. 172 crore. Of these, only Rs. 53 crore has been paid. The traffic police have now started sending out text messages to motorists with pending fines.

Source: Mumbai Mirror