A popular vlogger and his friends who converted an SUV into a mobile swimming pool and drove around a busy stretch of Alappuzha in Kerala wouldn’t have expected the Regional Transport Office (RTO) to act the way it did.

The authorities suspended the driving licences of vlogger Sanju and the driver and ordered all four to serve one week each in the orthopaedic wing of the medical college hospital in Alappuzha, where road accident victims are taken, and attend road safety classes at the RTO.

The video recently shared by Sanju on Facebook and the YouTube channel Sanju Techy Vlogs had grabbed attention for the brazen violation of rules and utter disregard for public safety. The channel has 82,000 followers on Facebook and 1.59 million subscribers on YouTube.

The youths had removed the rear seats of a Tata Safari SUV, fastened a blue tarpaulin with ropes to make it look like a tub and filled it with water before setting off on a drive. The entire process was recorded and shared in the vlog. At one point, the water pressure forced one of the side airbags to pop during the drive on the highway in Ambalapuzha in Alappuzha district.

The RTO (enforcement) summoned Sanju and his three friends, including the man who drove the SUV, on Monday and suspended their driving licences.

Remanan, the regional transport officer (enforcement), told reporters that the act had endangered other motorists on the busy highway. “The pool they built inside the car leaked and water flowed into the driver’s area and engine compartment. They got scared at that point and released the remaining water onto the road by opening the door, endangering the safety of other motorists,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

The video had received much flak from viewers who termed it an example of arrogance fuelled by the money the vlogger made through his videos.

In response, the vlogger shared a video on Sunday and said he had no regular job and hard work brought him all the money that helped buy his cars, including a Mercedes Benz, and build a new house.

Road safety expert Upendra Narayanan told a channel that such people were “anti-socials” and a “bad example” to society.