Actor Aritra Banik questions police requisition of his car for polls

Kolkata: At a time when the police and civil administration are busy making necessary arrangements for the upcoming Assembly elections, 2026, Tollywood actor Aritra Dutta Banik on Tuesday got involved in an altercation with a traffic cop while the policeman was attempting to requisition his car bearing a private registration.

According to Banik, on Tuesday, he was on his way to a shoot from his home in Sodepur. While passing the Rathtala crossing on B. T. Road, a traffic cop stopped his car and informed him that it would be requisitioned for use during the election days.

Protesting the move, Banik refused to allow the cop to requisition his car for use in the election process. Banik also recorded a video of the interaction in which the cop was heard saying that he had stopped the vehicle to requisition it for election purposes.

However, Millennium Post could not verify the authenticity of the footage uploaded by the actor. When Banik refused, the traffic cops claimed that vehicles are requisitioned in this manner during elections and that he was acting within the law. Banik, however, was seen confronting the traffic cop, claiming that no provision in the law allows a private vehicle to be requisitioned without the owner’s permission.

“Around 9:30 am, I was stopped and told that my car would be requisitioned for election purposes. I refused to allow my car to be requisitioned.

I told the police personnel that, as per an order of the Calcutta High Court, an order must be issued in the name of the private car owner.

I asked the cop to show me an order, but the police personnel kept pressuring me to give up my car by showing a requisition slip.

I will lodge a complaint against the traffic cop at the Barrackpore Commissionerate and with the District Election Officer (DEO),” he said.