Hyderabad: A Hyderabad man’s scooter was stolen and a first information report (FIR) was also registered. Months later, he received a traffic challan for the same scooter.
Since he was clearly not using it, what he came across was a clear image of the thief on the challan notification.
The man, identified as Faisal Rahman, shared the unusual incident on social media. It received nationwide attention with over 1.8 million views just hours after being posted on Tuesday, April 7.
“Dear Hyderabad Traffic Police, Hyderabad City Police,” Rahman wrote on X.
“My vehicle was stolen 3 months ago, and an FIR has already been registered at Habeeb Nagar Police Station,” he said. “Today, I received a traffic challan for the same vehicle, and the image clearly shows the thief’s face.”
Rahman requested the authorities to look into the matter.
As the post gained traction, people in the comments stepped in to help Faisal. One user even refined the grainy image to provide a clear photo of the thief.
Not Faisal’s bike: Hyderabad police
Siasat.com spoke to Habeebnagar Station House Officer (SHO) T Purushotham Rao, who, in an unexpected twist, revealed that Faisal is not the scooter’s owner.
According to the police, Faisal is the complainant’s friend and shared the image for views and likes. “He is doing that just for views,” SHO Rao said. “It is actually the scooter of Mohammed Shakir. He filed a complaint on January 24.”
When asked if the police had taken any action after the post went viral, the SHO said, “Yes, we saw it, but the challan is from March 1, so even if we visit that location, the thief won’t be there.”
The complainant himself didn’t know about the viral post, Rao added.
He assured that traffic police personnel have been on the lookout for the vehicle, and efforts are still ongoing to identify the perpetrator and retrieve Shakir’s, not Faisal’s, scooter.
