₹40,000 challan in Kurukshetra, ₹63,000 in Jhansi: police step up modified silencer action in late October

If you have been eyeing a louder slip-on for your Bullet, two police actions in the last week are worth reading before you pay for it.

On 24 October 2026, Jhansi traffic police seized three Royal Enfield Bullets fitted with modified silencers and issued challans totalling ₹63,000. The report puts the individual fines at ₹24,000, ₹23,000 and ₹16,000, and the enforcement, led by traffic inspector Devendra Sharma, did not stop at the exhaust. The riders were also booked for missing registration plates and riding without a valid licence, so the silencer was one charge in a stack of them.

Three days later, on 27 October, The Tribune reported that Sadar Thanesar police in Kurukshetra had issued a single challan of ₹40,000 to a rider from Pratapgarh village and impounded his Bullet. The trigger was a public complaint about gunshot-like sounds from the bike. Kurukshetra police spokesperson Naresh Sagwal said the police caught the rider after a complaint that he was causing a nuisance with a loud thumping sound from his two-wheeler. Superintendent of Police Chander Mohan said illegal modifications made to produce loud sounds would not be tolerated.

What the law actually says

The offence here is not loudness as a matter of taste. Rule 120(2) of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules sets a noise ceiling by engine size, measured 0.5 metres from the exhaust outlet with the engine held at three-quarters of its rated rpm. Bikes up to 80cc get 75 dB(A), 80cc to 175cc gets 77 dB(A) and anything above 175cc gets 80 dB(A). That last number covers almost every Royal Enfield, KTM and 650 twin sold here.

Section 190(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 is the stick. For a first offence it allows imprisonment of up to three months, or a fine of up to ₹10,000, or both, plus disqualification from holding a licence for three months. A second or subsequent offence raises the jail term to six months. The ₹40,000 and ₹63,000 figures above are therefore totals built from several charges and riders, not one silencer fine.

There is a second provision people forget. Section 52 covers alterations, and if the exhaust on your bike no longer matches what the registration certificate records, you need RTO approval. A replacement can that stays inside the dB(A) limit and is approved is legal. One that is fitted because it is loud, with the baffle or db killer removed and the catalytic converter gone, is not.

The global parts angle, and why it does not help you here

Italian and Japanese brands do sell homologated road cans. SC-Project, for instance, lists a new Euro 5+ approved Twin CR-T for the BMW R 12 nineT on its own news page. European homologation is a European document. It does not substitute for Indian approval under Section 52, and it does not stop a constable with a decibel meter and a complaint from a resident.

The practical reading for an Indian owner is simple. Buy a can because you want less weight or a cleaner midrange, keep the db killer in, keep the paperwork, and expect your RTO to ask questions. The silencer blast trick, where riders cut and restart the engine at speed to make a cracker-like bang, is what is pulling bikes into police compounds. Four Bullets in two districts in one week is a small sample, but the direction of travel is clear enough.

Sources

• Modified bike silencer lands Kurukshetra youth in trouble, The Tribune, 27 October 2026
• Jhansi News: मॉडिफाइड साइलेंसर वाली 3 बुलेट सीज, 63 हजार रुपये का चालान, Dynamite News, 24 October 2026
• Aftermarket Motorcycle Silencer Rules in India, Explained, BikeLeague
• Section 190(2), The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, Indian Kanoon
• SC-Project news page