Traffic cops bust illegal parking lot outside Dindoshi court

A man was arrested for running an illegal parking racket outside a Mumbai court, charging ₹20 per hour for parking on government land.

MUMBAI: A man was arrested on Thursday for running an illegal parking racket outside the Dindoshi sessions court and charging ₹20 per hour for parking on government land. According to the police, the accused, Mohammed Arif Ahmed Idrisi, 30, has been running the illegal parking lot for four months. On Wednesday, Mumbai traffic police constable Samadhan Patil was managing traffic on the Western Express Highway when he received a tip-off by a commuter that an illegal parking lot was functioning outside the Dindoshi sessions court.

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“After my duty hours, I changed and went to the spot in my four-wheeler along with my colleague, assuming that I might need backup if more people were running the illegal parking lot,” Patil said.

Patil parked his four-wheeler when Idrisi approached him and demanded ₹20 for an hour. Patil, and his colleague then parked their car and approached an auto driver and asked him to park his vehicle in the lot as well to check if Idrisi was charging everyone for parking.

When Idrisi charged the auto driver as well, Patil went to Idrisi and asked him to give a receipt for the payment made by him and also asked if he had permission to run the parking lot. “Idrisi told us that he was taking the money to guard the vehicles like a watchman,” Patil said.

Patil, who is attached to the Samta Nagar traffic police chowki, then became sure that Idrisi had been running an illegal parking lot and cheating motorists. Patil then took Idris to the Kurar police station and registered a complaint against the accused. “We have arrested Idrisi after booking him under sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code,” said a police officer.