Mumbai: Angry man sets own motorbike ablaze during nakabandi in Vasai

Bhanupratap Pandey. PIC/Hanif Patel

A 29-Year-old man was arrested by the Waliv police in Vasai after he allegedly set his bike ablaze on Monday, following an argument with a traffic police constable who stopped him during a nakabandi and demanded vehicle documents for verification.

Bhanupratap Triloknath Pandey, 29, a resident of Sai Ishwar building in Fatherwadi, Vasai, works at a petrol pump in Goregaon. He was returning home after work when traffic police constable Sachin Mohane stopped him. "I was at the nakabandi point at Gokhire Naka in Vasai East on May 1 and stopped Pandey's bike around 6.30 pm. I asked for the vehicle's documents but he started abusing me and said he would not show any papers," Mohane said.

Mohane then checked the M-Parivahan app to obtain the bike's details and found that its insurance and PUC certificate had expired in 2021. "He also had a fancy number plate on his bike and I told him that he would have to pay fines for all these violations," Mohane said, adding that there was also a fine of R200 pending since 2019.

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Pandey started making phone calls to someone and tried to pressurise Mohane to refrain from taking any action. He refused to pay the fine or surrender the bike, threatening Mohane by saying, "tumko jo karna hai woh karo". He then told the constable that he was a dangerous person and pulled out a matchbox from his pocket. "He opened the fuel tank and set the bike, registered in the name of a relative, on fire," Mohane said.

Mohane hurriedly got all other vehicles around the spot moved. He and some other officers doused the flames using sand from a building under construction in the vicinity. Pandey was later handed over to the Waliv police.

According to senior police inspector Kailas Barve of Waliv police station, Pandey told the police that he had a fight with a biker while filling petrol and was already in a foul mood when he was stopped by the constable. "He said could not control his temper and vented his anger on Mohane," Barve said. He added that there were injury marks on Pandey's face, which he sustained during the fight at the petrol pump.

Pandey has been booked under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 440 (mischief committed after preparation made for causing death or hurt) of the Indian Penal Code. He was produced in court on Monday and remanded to police custody till May 4.