A 38-year-old Delhi cab owner-driver has been declared a habitual traffic offender after racking up 208 challans (In India, a challan is a traffic ticket — an official fine notice for a road offence) in under 15 months — 206 of them for speeding — and leaving more than ₹4.1 lakh unpaid (about £3,200).
West district traffic police say he kept running his black seven-seater Maruti Ertiga on Delhi roads until officers traced him last week to Jalpura village in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Proceedings have been started to suspend his driving licence under the Motor Vehicles Act.
The ticket pile
According to Times of India and Hindustan Times, the first challan landed on 27 June 2025 and the 208th on 6 September 2026. Most speeding hits were logged on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg.
Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Ranbir Singh told HT that a typical overspeeding ticket is ₹2,000, taking known speeding fines alone to about ₹4.12 lakh, plus ₹500 for a stop-line offence and a signal-jumping case. “By not paying a single challan and continuing the over-speed violations, the driver, it seems, had no fear of law,” he said.
Singh also said the cab owner himself was driving when the Delhi camera hits were recorded.
How police caught up
West district traffic police ran a camera-data sweep from about 1 August for nearly two weeks, looking for repeat offenders rather than treating each challan in isolation. Speeding and signal jumping topped the list. Notices went out under Section 133 of the Motor Vehicles Act, then licence-suspension proposals to the relevant DTO or RTO.
At least ten such proposals have been filed. This driver’s 208 tickets led the pack, ahead of motorists with 134 challans (97 for speeding) and 107 (76 for speeding).
Tracing him took about 20 days: the mobile number on his driving licence was wrong, and the Delhi address on the vehicle’s registration certificate did not exist. UP Police helped locate him and the cab in Greater Noida.
What happens next
A transport official told HT the office will call him in to produce his licence. Suspension of three to six months is on the table.
The case lands amid a wider unpaid-challan crackdown. India’s Supreme Court has recently pressed states to block licence renewals, vehicle transfers and related services for motorists with outstanding e-challans — and to move against repeat violators — after being told tens of thousands of crores remain unpaid nationwide.
For UK readers used to points, NIP fines and DVLA suspensions, the numbers still land hard: more than 200 camera hits unpaid, a phantom address, and a working cab until police crossed state lines.