Comic hero or civic deviant? Cops book ‘Spidey’
NEW DELHI: He spins a web, any size; he catches thieves just like flies. He does whatever a spider can. And, occasionally, he zips down the chaotic streets of Najafgarh atop a two-wheeler, helmet-less, without a license plate or a rearview mirror. He’s Spider-man. Or, in this case, a local approximation of the superhero who throws caution, public safety and traffic laws to the wind in the quest for likes, comments and follows.
But his Spidey senses weren’t enough to ward the police off. And it wasn’t Peter Parker beneath the mask.
Delhi Police on Friday penalised 20-year-old Aditya Raj Verma, who sports the Spider-man costume, and 19-year-old Anjali, who doubles up as Spider-woman, after a 50-second video of the two cosplayers riding helmet-less on a motorcycle that had neither a licence plate nor rearview mirrors went viral on social media.
The two penalisations for reckless behaviour on Delhi’s streets present a cautionary tale of two make-believe comic book heroes turning civic deviants in the pursuit of online engagement. “I have learnt my lesson. This is my first and last mistake. I will not violate traffic laws again for my videos,” said Verma, who called himself the “Spider-man of Najafgarh”.
The first 10 seconds of the video, posted on Verma’s Instagram account on April 18, shows him riding a Royal Enfield Bullet without a helmet on the under-construction Urban Extension Road (UER)-II, which is closed for the public.
The rest of the clip shows the two pulling off stunts, driving past a temple, a Metro station, a row of shops, and other cars, bikes and cycles, in parts of Najafgarh – set to the tune of Haryanvi song Jhanjhar by Raj Mawar.
Verma and Anjali’s reckless stunts cost them dearly. They were fined under a litany of sections of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules and The Motor Vehicle Act 1988, and had to cough up ₹22,000.
Deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka) Ankit Singh, said, “At one place in the video, the Bullet’s registration number is visible, which helped us reach the owner of the bike. The owner told us his cousin borrows his bike sometimes to make videos. The staff then reached Verma,” said.
Throughout the clip, one of 146 similar videos on his Instagram channels, Verma wears the classic red-and-blue Spider-man suit, replete with the webbed mask and the triangular eyes. Anjali, who goes by a single name, dons the black and silver Spider-woman outfit from the film Spiderverse, complete with the trademark redlined hood.
Indeed, they didn’t snap the cosplay when police hauled them up on Friday. A costumed Verma – wearing rubber slippers, in a clear giveaway – was seen in a photograph standing across a traffic police officer holding a long penalty receipt. Anjali stood behind the two, her arms crossed and a woman police officer to her side.
Verma has gained 9,944 followers on Instagram accounts, having fed off Spider-man’s online traction for five months.
His repertoire includes Spiderman dancing in a mall to a Hindi film song; doing push-ups in a park; waving a Jai Shree Ram flag dressed in a yellow chikankari kurta over the costume; selling onions on the streets of Najafgarh; dancing atop a tractor in Mitraon village, and from cosplay events.
A resident of Maksudabad Colony in Najafgarh, Verma’s father runs a leather furniture business, and his mother is a homemaker.
He is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Delhi University’s School of Open Learning (SOL) and is also enrolled in an editing and graphic design course online. “These videos are just a hobby. I want to be a graphic designer and animator,” he said.
Verma said he was 13 when he first watched Tom Holland and Zendaya in Spider-man: Homecoming.
“I was inspired by him,” he said. It was only last year that he was introduced to the world of cosplay – the practice of dressing up like a character from a film, book or video game – and he dressed up as Ryomen Sukuna, a Japanese anime character.
“I wanted to go as Spider-man but I didn’t know where to get a good costume from. At the cosplay, some attendees told me that I can import it from China,” said Verma, who procured one last November for ₹4,500. He then roped in Anjali, who chose to dress up as Gwen Stacy, a recurring character in Spiderman.
Verma’s nemeses are far more benign than Venom, Doctor Octopus or Vulture, but the threat is just as real. “My parents are very supportive, but when I was booked by police, they really scolded me,” he said. “I won’t repeat this.”
Meanwhile, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal joined campaigning for the party Lok Sabha candidates in the city on Friday, with a door-to-door campaign in Vivek Vihar area under East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.
AAP has fielded sitting MLA Kuldeep Kumar from East Delhi seat. “Hundreds of men and women volunteers of AAP participated in the campaign. I interacted with the people and urged them to vote for AAP candidate,” Maliwal said.
Maliwal, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha in January, was in the US for weeks where her sister was recuperating from an illness.