RTO Officials Arrested for Truck Bribery in Ganjam: Police Crack Down on Illegal Money Collection | Bhubaneswar News
Berhampur: Police on Tuesday arrested five persons, including two officials of the regional transport office (RTO), Ganjam, for illegally collecting money from the trucks plying on NH-16 near Girisola.
The accused were identified as K Venkatesh, additional RTO, Ratikanta Nahak, junior motor vehicle inspector (MVI), Bharat Kumar Sahu and Rabindra Sahu of Girisola and BVijaya Kumar of Ichapuram in Andhra Pradesh, police said.
SP (Berhampur) Saravana Vivek M said Golanthara police got information about illegal collection by a group at Girishola from the trucks with the promise of smooth passage of the vehicles without any checking by RTO officials.
A police team rushed to the spot and spotted four persons detaining a vehicle and collecting money. “Police detained three of them while another managed to escape from the spot,” he said.
During interrogation, they revealed they were working on behalf of some RTO officials and disclosed their names. They were collecting money from the trucks and guaranteed no checking by RTO officials along the NH-16. Later the collected money was given to the RTO officials through cash or online transactions, police said.
“For this operation, the accused officials added their “agents” in WhatsApp groups where they are members. Details of the trucks which pay money are shared in the WhatsApp groups so that they are not checked by RTO officials on NH-16,” said the SP. They collected from Rs 700 to Rs 2,000 from each truck, according to their load.
He said a case was registered against all the five accused under different sections of BNS and Prevention of Corruption Act. Investigation is on to find out whether other persons are involved in the racket, police said.
The accused were identified as K Venkatesh, additional RTO, Ratikanta Nahak, junior motor vehicle inspector (MVI), Bharat Kumar Sahu and Rabindra Sahu of Girisola and BVijaya Kumar of Ichapuram in Andhra Pradesh, police said.
SP (Berhampur) Saravana Vivek M said Golanthara police got information about illegal collection by a group at Girishola from the trucks with the promise of smooth passage of the vehicles without any checking by RTO officials.
A police team rushed to the spot and spotted four persons detaining a vehicle and collecting money. “Police detained three of them while another managed to escape from the spot,” he said.
During interrogation, they revealed they were working on behalf of some RTO officials and disclosed their names. They were collecting money from the trucks and guaranteed no checking by RTO officials along the NH-16. Later the collected money was given to the RTO officials through cash or online transactions, police said.
“For this operation, the accused officials added their “agents” in WhatsApp groups where they are members. Details of the trucks which pay money are shared in the WhatsApp groups so that they are not checked by RTO officials on NH-16,” said the SP. They collected from Rs 700 to Rs 2,000 from each truck, according to their load.
He said a case was registered against all the five accused under different sections of BNS and Prevention of Corruption Act. Investigation is on to find out whether other persons are involved in the racket, police said.
