KANNUR: An apparition or plain hallucination? The personification of bots turning sentient? Or have the ‘yakshis’ deserted the haunted houses of popular lore and hit the roads? Whatever be the case, the motor vehicle department (MVD) is having to deal with ‘encounters of the spooky kind’ when it comes to its artificial intelligence (AI) cameras in the district.
The apparently ‘smart’ road watchers have once again captured footage of an unidentified presence ‘accompanying’ occupants of vehicles in Kannur, creating headache and confusion for the department.
To make matters worse, images of the eerie e-challans have started circulating on social media, with rumours of ghosts stalking drivers.
After the presence of a strange woman in the back seat of a car was picked up by a camera in Payyannur on October 3, another similar occurrence was reported in Uruvachal, where a driver was caught on camera with a woman riding shotgun. Meethale Kunnath Ali, from Kadavathur, near Panoor, swears he was travelling alone. Moreover, he avers that he had not travelled to Uruvachal on the day of the incident. Ali, a distributor of bottled mineral water, is a frequent traveller within the district and outside. But, he says that it had been a while since he had driven to Uruvachal, and most certainly not on September 25, when the car was picked up by the AI camera.
“The car in the image is mine. But, I have no knowledge of the woman in the visual. The e-challan was issued for not wearing a seat belt. “I contacted MVD officials but am yet to receive a satisfactory reply,” he said.
‘Will ask Keltron to look into it’
Kannur: “I am ready to pay the fine. But, officials should explain the presence of a woman in the car,” Ali added. In the Payyannur incident, a camera detected a car driver not wearing the seat belt. He was with his family. But, the e-challan image showed a strange woman sitting in the back seat.
Bewilderingly enough, the children who were actually in the rear are not visible in the picture. “We are not in a position to explain as it involves technical issues,” said M C Sheeba, RTO (enforcement), Kannur. “We will ask Keltron to look into the matter and resolve the confusion,” she said.