34-year-old RTO officer assaulted by unidentified person in Mumbai

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A 34-year-old regional transport officer (RTO) officer from the Kurla division was allegedly assaulted by an unknown individual on Wednesday. The accused also snatched the officer's mobile phone before fleeing the scene.

According to police sources, assistant inspector Amol Sapkal was patrolling in Kurla along with senior RTO officials to take action against motorists violating the law.

Around 1 pm, he intercepted a tempo on LBS Road near Hari Masjid. The vehicle was found to be overloaded beyond its permitted capacity. Before initiating any action, he took the license of the driver, identified as Dev Raju Kunchikorve. Sapkal decided to verify the weight and instructed the driver to take the vehicle to a weighing machine (weight kata). However, the accused allegedly refused to comply and made a call to an anonymous person to complaint about the officer's actions.

In response to the driver's call, an individual promptly arrived on a bike and began arguing with the RTO officer. When the officer attempted to take a photo of the vehicle on his mobile phone, the accused snatched the device from his hand and smashed it to the ground. The officer then tried to use a challan machine to take a photo, but the accused attempted to snatch it as well. Sapkal, however, managed to hand the challan machine to his associate. The situation escalated further as the accused allegedly assaulted the officer and fled the scene, taking Sapkal's broken mobile phone with him.

The officer later approached Kurla Police and filed a complaint. Based on his report, the police have registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and are actively searching for the accused, an officer from Kurla Police Station said.