MEERUT: In a bizarre incident, a car driver in Meerut has been challaned for not wearing a helmet. In fact, cops went a step ahead and even put the Maruti Swift car's registration number on the challan receipt. The aggrieved driver later approached the senior superintendent of police (SSP) who has ordered an enquiry into the matter.

The incident happened in the Hasanpur area of the city on Sunday evening when Shailender Singh, 43, was stopped by a traffic police officer, who asked to see his car's papers. According to Singh, all his vehicle documents were in order, yet the cop refused to let him go. "I was getting late as I had to take my 4-month-old son to a doctor but the cop kept holding my car for some reason. After I had a heated discussion with him, he, to my surprise, challaned me for not wearing a helmet. This is ridiculous. I never knew I had to don a helmet while driving a car."

On his part, Shivraj Singh, the traffic cop who had the challan issued, said that the matter is being blown out of proportion and that at the heart of the controversy is a technical mistake. "We stopped Shailender Singh because we found him talking on the mobile phone while driving. We had to therefore challan him. I asked the chowki in-charge of Hasanpur, Bachan Singh, to issue a challan. However, the official, by mistake, charged him for not wearing a helmet whereas the challan should have been issued for talking on the mobile phone while driving. It was an error and not done deliberately."

Shailender on Monday visited the SSP, DC Dubey, and narrated the whole incident to him. Dubey directed the SP (Traffic) to look into the issue. "If the incident is found to be true, appropriate action will be taken against the erring official," the SSP said.