Pune: Bike taxi operator pushes RTO inspector off 2-wheeler, flees

PUNE: An RTO inspector riding on an illegal bike taxi as a decoy customer was injured after the rider pushed her off the vehicle when she instructed him to stop for penalising him on the charge of ferrying passengers without permit.
"The injured probationary officer of the 2000 batch, Pallavi Rasal (27), suffered injuries to head, hands and other parts of the body.She was discharged from a private hospital after treatment," said deputy RTO Sanjiv Bhor.
"The flying squad of the Regional Transport Office (RTO) was taking action against illegal bike taxis at the mental hospital corner in Vishrantwadi around 2.30pm on September 29. One of the squad members booked a ride to Pune railway station on an application posing as a decoy customer," said senior inspector Dattatraya Bhapkar from the Vishrantwadi police on Saturday.
Bhapkar said, "After the officer sat on the bike and travelled for around 100 metres, she instructed the biker to stop for taking action against him. But he pushed her off from the moving vehicle and sped away. The biker would be arrested at the earliest."
RTO motor vehicle inspector Rahima Mulla (40) lodged a complaint against the biker under Section 353 (obstructing public servant from discharging duty), among other charges of the Indian Penal Code.
Mulla said, "Rasal spoke to the biker over phone and gave him the location to pick her up from outside a shop at the mental hospital corner. A squad waiting at a distance of 100m took photographs of the bike and signalled him to stop. Rasal also asked him to stop. When we told him that ferrying passengers without permit was illegal and directed him to go to the RTO office at Alandi, he suddenly pressed the escalator and kicked the officer. She fell on the road and got injured."
Deputy RTO Bhor said, "For the first time that such an incident has occurred after we launched the drive against bike taxis. Our drive will continue. Plying such taxis is not allowed in Maharashtra. They are operating illegally despite the application operator filing an affidavit in the Bombay high court around three months ago stating that they would stop the service by giving a disclaimer on the app."
He said, "The autorickshaw operators are opposed to bike taxis. They staged agitation outside the RTO demanding action against the taxis in the past. We have filed an application with the Pune police's cybercrime police to delete the application around two months ago."