BENGALURU: A city-based software professional and KR Puram traffic police recently engaged in a Twitter spat over an accident on Old Madras Road. While the techie accused police of inaction, the latter stood their ground, claiming they have done all they could though the complainant backtracked from filing an FIR.
It all began on the morning of April 4 when a mini truck brushed against the car of Tanoy Dewanjee. He visited KR Puram traffic police station and walked out with an acknowledgement for claiming insurance for his damaged vehicle. There were scratches on the vehicle and its rear view mirror was damaged.
However, Dewanjee later in a series of tweets, said none should expect police to act and help. “In Bangalore, your life on the road is not safe because of reckless truck drivers. Please don’t expect any assistance from the Bangalore traffic police. Today I met with one such accident but KR Puram traffic police harassed us for 4 hours without any solution,” one of his tweets read.
In reply, police posted: “12.50pm you came to the station. We called the truck owner at 12.54pm. Driver said the truck had gone to Hosakote, it would take one hour. Again, we called him at 1.53pm and the mobile was not reachable. Duty shift changed at 2pm and again police called the owner, mobile not reachable. By 2.33pm, acknowledgement given to u.”
Cops told TOI that Dewanjee initially made a futile attempt to negotiate with the truck driver-cum-owner, Chandan Tanwar from Hoskote. “We asked Dewanjee to register an FIR so that we can take up a case. Then, Dewanjee asked us whether he should leave his car in the station for investigation. We said yes and he decided not to file a complaint. As requested by him, we issued an acknowledgement to help him claim insurance. He gave in writing that he doesn’t want an FIR,” cops said.
Dewanjee did not respond to queries from TOI on Twitter. According to cops, Dewanjee visited them again on Wednesday night but refused to file an FIR. “We have penalised the truck driver with Rs 1,000 for rash and negligent driving,” they said.
