Pune: Fake Toll Receipt Racket Busted At Khed-Shivapur And Anewadi Toll Plaza; 7 Persons Arrested
Mubarak Ansari
Pune, 25 February 2021: Pune rural police have busted a fake receipt racket at Khed—Shivapur and Anewadi toll plazas on the Pune-Bengaluru Highway. Seven persons have been arrested till now.
Based on a complaint from Abhijeet Babar who was cheated with a fake receipt, an FIR has been registered against the arrested persons at Rajgad police station. The accused persons have been charged for offences under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
According to police, Babar said that instead of Rs 190 toll (for non FASTag vehicles) at Khed-Shivapur toll plaza, drivers are being asked to go after paying Rs 100 without a receipt or bogus receipt. After passing through Anewadi he paid the toll again and saw the difference between the two receipts. He suspected that the receipts were fake and lodged an online complaint with the superintendent of police on February 25.
On the instructions of Pune rural SP Dr Abhinav Deshmukh, the local crime branch (LCB) team led by Police Inspector Padmakar Ghanwat raided the toll plaza and found that the receipts were fake.
Police have arrested Sudesh Type Gangavane (25) and Akshay Tanaji Sanas (22), both residents of Wai in Satara district, Shubham Sitaram Dolare (19) of Janata Vasahat, Sai Laduram Carpenter (25) of Katraj in Pune and Hemant Bhate, Dada Dalvi, Satish Margje, Sanket Jaywant Gaikwad (23), all residents of Sarjapur in Jawali taluka in Satara district and Ajay Kashinath Chavan (19) of Pachwad in Wai taluka in Satara district.
Police said that an investigation has revealed that the accused were fraudulently cheating the government as well as drivers by making duplicate receipts like the original invoices printed by the PSTRPL company and giving them to the drivers for financial gain. Police have seized 30 duplicate receipts (for Rs 5700) as well as Rs 32,070 which was collected through bogus receipts. The cops have also seized mobile phones, two computers used for making fake invoices as well as two printers and paper rolls.
The investigation team included Assistant Police Inspector Netaji Gandhare, Police Sub Inspector Amol Gore, ASI Shabir Pathan and policemen Dnyaneshwar Kshirsagar, Hanumant Pasalkar, Chandrakant Jadhav, Amol Shedge, Balasaheb Khadke, Mangesh Bhagat, Prasanna Ghadge, Akshay Jawale and Dagadu Virkar.
