Bengaluru: A New Year joyride turned into a financial nightmare for a Kerala engineering student when Bengaluru transport authorities slammed him with a staggering Rs 1.1-lakh fine for unleashing a fire-spitting, illegally modified car on city roads.The youth from Kannur district had bought a battered 2002 Honda City for a modest Rs 70,000 — but transformed it into a deafening, flame-belching spectacle through a series of unauthorised modifications. A flashy colour change, a tampered silencer, altered components, and graffiti boldly declaring “Banger” turned the ageing sedan into a rolling provocation — one that quickly drew the attention of enforcement officials and ended the thrill in a costly crackdown.
Chasing online fame, the student drove into Bengaluru to party and flood social media with reels of the car spewing flames, roaring through the streets, and pulling risky stunts—eliciting shocked stares from onlookers and a flurry of public complaints.Police said the youngster had come to Bengaluru to celebrate New Year with friends and was frequently posting photos and reels of the car. The videos showed the vehicle creating excessive noise, flames shooting out of the exhaust, pulling risky stunts and drawing gasps from bystanders. While some onlookers recorded videos of the roaring car and amplified it on social media there were many who complained about the noisy vehicle. A traffic police officer said they received multiple complaints about the car. “We located it at Bharatiya City, northeast Bengaluru. We found that apart from loud noise, flames were shooting out of the exhaust, which posed a serious risk. The car had undergone major illegal modifications. These violations attract heavy penalties, which only the RTO is authorised to do,” the officer said.Following the police report, the Yelahanka RTO inspected the vehicle and slapped fines that cost more than the car itself. The owner paid up before the vehicle was released and was warned not to repeat such stunts.“For the sake of social media reels, he spent more on fines than on buying the car,” a police officer quipped, adding the same vehicle had reportedly been driven in Kerala for over a year without action.
