Kochi: Every night around 2 am, when most of Kakkanad is fast asleep, 63-year-old Jose Yohannan and his wife lie awake, waiting for the deafening roar of a motorcycle to pass through their quiet neighbourhood repeatedly.

For the elderly couple, both of whom live with hypertension and diabetes, uninterrupted sleep is not a luxury but a medical necessity. Instead, for months, their nights have been punctuated by the repeated explosive crackles of an illegally modified Royal Enfield bike speeding through the narrow roads of Link Valley at Kusumagiri behind Infopark at Kakkanad in Kochi.

Their ordeal eventually prompted a complaint that led the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) to track down the motorcycle, impose penalties, and order it to be restored to its original condition.

“We wake up around midnight almost every day. By 2 am or 2.30 am, our sleep is completely gone,” said Yohannan, Secretary of the Link Valley Community Association. “Both of us are chronic patients. Our blood pressure rises because of this. Sleeplessness itself causes severe health problems for us,” he told Onmanorama.

Link Valley is a gated residential township comprising around 130 villas nestled along the hilly terrain of Kusumagiri. While only about 30 villas are occupied by homeowners, the remaining houses are rented out to young professionals and paying guests, many of whom work in and around Infopark.

According to residents, one of the tenants, along with a few friends, regularly rode a modified Royal Enfield Bullet through the internal roads between 10.30 pm and 4 am, often at high speed.

The steep gradients of the valley required frequent acceleration while climbing uphill. But what disturbed residents most was the illegally modified exhaust that produced loud, firecracker-like popping noises, echoing across the valley in the dead of night.

“The geography makes it even worse. When they rev the bike while climbing the slope, you can imagine how loud it becomes. And while coming downhill, they deliberately create those firecracker-like popping sounds,” Yohannan said.

With a large number of permanent residents being senior citizens, confronting the youths was never considered a safe option.

“We don't have the physical strength or capacity to confront them directly. We cannot do any moral policing. Nowadays, youngsters are unpredictable in their behaviour if you confront them,” Yohannan said.

Being fed up with repeated sleepless nights, a 75-year-old resident approached Ernakulam Enforcement Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Bijoy Isaac with a formal complaint on behalf of the community.

The complaint stated that the modified motorcycle was depriving elderly residents of sleep, worsening existing health conditions and frightening children living in the neighbourhood. Assistant Motor Vehicle Inspectors Mohammed Niyas and V Kashyap were tasked with investigating the complaint.

When officials initially visited the villa complex, the motorcycle had disappeared. A search of the vehicle’s registration revealed that it was registered in the name of a woman from Kollam, whose phone was switched off. The department later found that the motorcycle had been registered in the name of the mother of one of the youths’ friends.

By collecting the registration details of other vehicles parked inside the residential complex, MVD officials eventually traced the group to a startup office in Kalamassery, where the modified Bullet was found hidden in the basement parking area.

RTO Isaac said illegally modified exhaust systems have become increasingly common and are designed purely to create excessive noise. “They spend a lot of money altering these silencers. The silencer is modified to produce firecracker-like popping sounds, almost like glass shattering. The rider can keep it quiet if he wants, but once he gets onto the road, he revs the engine to create those loud popping noises,” Isaac said.

Bike seized, ₹7,000 fine imposed
The MVD seized the motorcycle and imposed a ₹7,000 penalty for unauthorised modifications, including alterations to the exhaust system and wheel profile.

Officials directed the owner to restore the motorcycle completely to its factory-approved specifications and produce it before the department within seven days. Failure to do so could result in cancellation of the vehicle’s registration. The rider has also been directed to attend mandatory traffic awareness classes.

MVD sources said enforcement officers rely heavily on public cooperation in such cases. The department has been carrying out many special drives and patrols across the city to catch such violators.

“Not just Link Valley residents, many other residents have complained about such issues. In many places, riders conduct illegal road races using such loud exhausts. We can’t physically stop such riders because they usually try to evade us at high speeds, and if an accident occurs during interception, it creates another issue. Once we identify the vehicle, we make them dismantle every unauthorised modification and restore it to the approved registration condition,” a senior officer said.