Panthers on Wheels perform at the Police Training Centre at Dergaon. Telegraph picture

Dergaon, April 8: Forty-eight riders on a single Royal Enfield Bullet.

The army has shown the way and now Assam police are looking to replicate that feat in January next year.

The Panthers on Wheels, Assam police’s elite group of stuntmen, are practising round the clock at the battalion training centre at Dergaon in Golaghat district to break the army’s record of 48 persons riding a single Royal Enfield motorcycle.

“Our boys want to give it a try and are practising day in and day out at the battalion training centre,” Satyaraj Hazarika, commanding officer of the Battalion Training Centre at Dergaon, said.

The occasion for this grand show will be the police meet to be held at the Police Training Centre in January next year, in the presence of director-general of police Jayanta Choudhary.

In 2010, 48 personnel of the army squeezed themselves on a single Royal Enfield motorcycle during a show in Bangalore.

Hazarika said the Panthers on Wheels have already managed with 25 people on a motorcycle during the Republic Day function at Jorhat court field this year.

“The team was supposed to try the stunt with 35 men but since the track at the court field in Jorhat was too damp, the group failed to do so. But they had managed to ride with 35 boys during the training session,” he said.

Assam police have a 26-member core group of Panthers on Wheels and the rest of the members have been drawn from other battalions. The team is working under coach Ganesh Rai.

Hazarika said a special tarmac has been prepared for practice and “going by the dedication and the hard work put in by the team, we are confident that they can achieve the rare feat.”

The senior police official said no police force in the country has achieved such a feat and the Assam police are the only one to boast an elite team of stuntmen.

Apart from the army, the BSF has also a similar team.

Hazarika said inspector-general of police (training and armed police) Bhakar Jyoti Mahanta, who visited the training centre recently, was impressed with the practice session.

“The IGP was impressed with the dedication of the group of stuntmen and was confident that they will manage to achieve the target of 48 men on a single motorcycle,” Hazarika said.

The Panthers on Wheels, which was formed in May 2010, first performed at the Independence Day function at the Police Training Centre that year.