Two motorbike riders were issued challans by the Mumbai traffic police in separate incidents after they were recently photographed riding without helmets while being accompanied by Bollywood celebrities Amitabh Bachchan and Anushka Sharma. The actors too had not worn helmets. The action came after Twitter users posted pictures and videos of Amitabh and Anushka on bikes and tagged the city traffic police in the posts.
Sonu Shaikh, an associate of Anushka with whom she was on the bike, got a challan for Rs 10,500 for multiple violations, including the helmetless ride with the actress. Their video, which was claimed to be a clip from Juhu, was tweeted on May 15.
In Amitabh’s case, the rider got a challan for Rs 1,000. Incidentally, the image of the ride was originally shared by the superstar himself on Instagram on May 14, thanking the “unknown” rider.
Posting a picture of his ride on Instagram, superstar Amitabh had said, “Thank you for the ride buddy. Don’t know you. . . but you obliged and got me on time to the location of work. . faster and in order to avoid the unsolvable traffic jams. ” Subsequently, another Twitter user posted the image and tagged police demanding action. The police action came after the tweet.
The image was taken on location during a film shoot on the streets, actor Amitabh wrote in his blog on May 16 in response to comments from his admirers on his Instagram post. By hopping on a crew member's bike, he wrote in his blog that he was just having fun and not actually going anywhere.