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BENGALURU: When he bought a scooter in November 2017 he chose not to buy a helmet. He did not require one as he usually moved in the bylanes and that no traffic cop would catch him. But when he ran out of luck two days ago he was slapped with 71 traffic violations!

The accused, 41-year-old M Manjunath alias Manju - a vegetable vendor from Rajajinagar , had to shell out Rs 15,400 as penalty for all the traffic violations committed. This, perhaps, is the highest fine amount paid by a single individual so far in the city.

Manju was caught by the Rajajinagar traffic cops on December 12th morning near Mahalakshmi Layout bus stand (off West of Chord Road) for riding without a helmet.

Assistant sub-inspector police N Ravindra entered the scooter’s registrationon number into the portable machine to raise a challan of Rs 500 for helmetless riding. But the printer did not stop soon, it went on listing out offences involving the scooter.

“We initially there was a technical glitch in the machine as the printing continued, but we realised that there were multiple cases booked against the same vehicle over the last two years,” a police constable said and added: “At the end, the receipt generated measured 5.1 feet long, almost the height of accused.” While 55 cases were booked for riding without helmet, five for triple- riding and 11 for jumping traffic signals.

Most of the cases were booked with the help of CCTV cameras fitted at traffic junctions. Some of the cases were booked by traffic cops.

“Cases were booked at junctions of Yeshwanthapur, Rajajinagar, West of Chord road, Vijayanagar and Mahalakshmi Layout. Since he sold vegetables, Manju would often visit RMC yard in Yeshwanthapur to buy them. At no point of time, he wore helmet. He very casually jumped traffic signals. He would ride triple with fellow trader at busy junctions such as the Goraguntepalya junction,” police said. When calculated, the total fine amount came to Rs 15,400.

“Since Manju could not pay the total fine amount on December 12, we seized his vehicle. He visited Rajajinagar traffic police station on Saturday and paid the full amount in cash. He was carrying a newly purchased full face helmet when he walked into the station,” police said. Before paying the fine, Manju submitted copies of his driving license, registration certificate and insurance of the vehicle.

