Ahmedabad, December 8: In a scam that resembles a Bollywood movie plot, a group of strongmen fooled the authorities for more than a year by running a bogus toll booth on private land and collecting crores from travellers in Gujarat. The fake toll plaza was set up along the Bamanbore-Kutch national highway in Morbi. The police have registered a case against at least five people for running the fake toll plaza in Gujarat.

According to a report published by NDTV, for 18 months, some local strongmen ran a fake toll booth on private land in Morbi district, duping commuters, cops, and officials by charging them half the rate of the official toll plaza on the national highway. The manager of the Vaghasia toll plaza, the legitimate toll operator, said the private landowners were brazenly looting thousands of rupees daily. They rerouted the traffic through land belonging to the White House Ceramic Company, a shut-down factory and the Varghasia village. Cybercrime in Gujarat: Chinese Man Makes Football Betting App, Dupes 1,200 People for Over Rs 1,400 Crore.

The lower toll rate lured the truck drivers and caused them to choose the route, allowing the fraud to continue for over a year. Morbi district Collector GT Pandya said, “We learnt that some vehicles were being redirected from the Varghasia toll plaza’s original route and charged toll tax. The cops and other authorities searched the site and lodged a comprehensive report.”

The commuters did not mind the fraud as they only had to pay half the toll. It was later found that the NHAI and the plaza manager knew about the ongoing scam. They had written letters to local police about the fake toll plaza. Ahmedabad: Four Arrested for Selling Duplicate Tickets of India-Pakistan World Cup 2023 Match (Watch Video).

White House Ceramic Company’s owner, Amarshi Patel and his aides Vanraj Singh Jhala, Harvijay Singh Jhala, Dharmendra Singh Jhala, Yuvraj Singh Jhala and others were booked by the cops. Officials said the strongmen in the region coerced truck drivers to pay “toll plaza” and extracted money from them.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 08, 2023 10:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).