: The vigilance bureau on Monday seized nearly ₹ 5 lakh of alleged bribe money from the possession of two of the three illegal collection agents arrested two days back and working on behalf of some officials of the Yamunanagar regional transport authority.
Breaking the illegal nexus of allowing overloaded trucks to operate in return of bribe, a team from Karnal range arrested three locals -- Ankit Garg with ₹ 40,000 red-handed from Telipura Chowk, Neeraj Gulati from Jail Chowk with ₹ 20,000 in online transaction and Manik alias Lovely accompanying Gulati on Saturday night.
They were presented before a court on Sunday and a five-day remand was sought. While Ankit and Neeraj were granted four-day custody, Manik was sent to jail, VB inspector Sachin said.
“They were collecting ₹ 9,000 per overload vehicle bearing a Haryana number and ₹ 15,500 for UP-registered vehicles on the behest of RTA officials. The complainant was asked for a bribe to clear his five trucks, including four of Haryana number,” the inspector said.
Sachin said that during the interrogation, ₹ 4 lakh bribe money was found from Ankit’s residence and he also revealed about ₹ 30,000 of the collected money, while cash worth ₹ 46,000, to be delivered to the RTA officials, was recovered during Gulati’s remand.
{{/usCountry}}Sachin said that during the interrogation, ₹ 4 lakh bribe money was found from Ankit’s residence and he also revealed about ₹ 30,000 of the collected money, while cash worth ₹ 46,000, to be delivered to the RTA officials, was recovered during Gulati’s remand.
{{/usCountry}}“The transporters were being told by them that if the bribe is not paid, their vehicles will be challaned by the department. On the instructions of the RTA officials, they were collecting bribes and getting commission based on the number of vehicles apprehended. The matter is under investigation,” he added. ENDS