The Mumbai Police on Wednesday deported six athletes of a United Kingdom-based parkour group two days after they were caught on camera performing stunts on the rooftops of residential buildings in Prabhadevi, the Mumbai Mirror reported. They were deported for violating visa rules under the Foreigners’ Act.
“We have deported all those who were found performing the stunts,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 5) Vikram Deshamane. “They left the country on Wednesday morning. They have violated the visa rules by endangering theirs as well as others’ lives.”
The deported athletes are part of a seven-member parkour group called Storror. The incident took place on Monday afternoon when the group performed parkour stunts on the roof of the 14-storey Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Society building. Parkour is a sport where athletes negotiate obstacles and high-rise structures by quickly running, jumping or climbing around them, especially in an urban setting.
Residents of the building shot videos of the stunts and alerted the Dadar Police. Jayant Nate, secretary of the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Society, and others complained to the police that the athletes had illegally entered the building and performed stunts, The Times Of India reported. “We residents were disturbed since we had no prior knowledge of their plans to perform stunts and, above all, they had not taken any permission in the first place,” Nate said.
The residents were afraid that their children may also perform such stunts, Nate told India Today. At the police station on Tuesday night, the athletes told society members that they located the building using Google Maps. “The terrace doors are closed but they used the duct on top floor, which leads to the terrace, for entry and exit,” said Nate. “It was the 10th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and these guys were foreigners, so we panicked.”
The videos went viral on social media on Tuesday. The Dadar Police recorded their statements and handed over their passports and visa papers to the special branch, which informed the UK Consulate. The six – identified as Powel Max Cave, Cave Storrer, Benjamin Storrer, Bernard Black, Powel Oliver and Dave Taylor – were deported on an early-morning flight the next day.
The athletes were scheduled to speak at a TED conference in Mumbai on December 2.
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