ARTO, Junior Motor Vehicle Inspector arrested along with 3 agents for illegally collecting money from vehicles in Odisha
Berhampur: The Golanthara police in Ganjam district today arrested five persons including an Additional Regional Transport Officer (ARTO), Junior Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI) and three agents on charges of illegally collecting fines from vehicles on NH-16 near Girisola of the district.
According to Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek M, a team of cops under the leadership of the IIC of Golanthara Police station conducted a raid based on the complaint over illegal collection of fines from the old Girisola Check gates.
During the raid, police arrested three agents for their involvement in the illegal activity whom they identified as Pintu Sahu, Rabindra Sahu and B. Vijay Kumar. While Pintu Sahoo and Rabindra Sahoo are the residents of Girisola village, Vijay Kumar is a native of Ichchapuram.
While interrogating the trio, the police came to know about the involvement of Ganjam ARTO K. Venkatesh Rao and Junior Motor Vehicle Inspector Ratikant Nayak and arrested them.
The Berhampur SP said that the accused persons had been collecting the illegal fines since 2022. They used to collect Rs 700 to Rs 2000 per vehicle saying that they would pay hefty amount of fines (in thousands) if caught by the RTO.
Each agent used to collect the fines at least from 15 vehicles in a day and later distribute among themselves, the SP added.
The ARTO had formed three different WhatsApp groups, one for each agent, in which they use to share the details of the vehicles after collecting the illegal fines, so that they were not checked anywhere, the SP said adding that a raid was conducted on the house of the accused ARTO during which cash of Rs 82,500 was seized.
Efforts are on to nab the fourth agent who fled the spot after noticing the cops during the raid and involvement of former Transport Inspector (TI) of Ganjam. N.K Chinara has come to the fore and he will be interrogated soon, the Berhampur SP informed.
Meanwhile, a case has been registered against the accused persons under different sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Prevention of Corruption Act and they have been forwarded to the court after their arrests.