Illegal pay-and-park busted in Mumbai’s Colaba, one arrested

Last week, a businessman had filed a complaint saying that he was asked to pay Rs40 as parking fee near Radio Club in Colaba

Mohit Chaurasiya alias Sonu, the 27-year-old mastermind of an illegal ‘pay-and-park’ gang that allegedly extorted money from vehicle owners in south Mumbai, was arrested.

The accused was booked for extortion and forgery. (HT)

Last week, a businessman had filed a complaint saying that he was asked to pay Rs40 by a man as parking fee near Radio Club in Colaba. When the businessman asked the man to show his identity card or contract for the pay and park service, he didn’t. That’s when he approached the police.

The police said when the patrolling officers found Sonu demanding money from another driver, they confronted him and found a fake pay and park receipt booklet on him. They immediately arrested him and later found that Sonu was in touch with a parking contractor blacklisted by the BMC. He used to target areas tourists frequented. The police had also found half-torn receipts of the BMC’s parking facility on him. Sonu confessed to charging parking fees between Rs40 and Rs100 depending on the make of their cars. He would go around different parking spots and collect receipts thrown away by people, and then start his own pay-and-park facility without any permissions.

He was booked for extortion and forgery. “We are trying to find out how many more members did his gang have, and where did they operate,” said a cop.