Five people were booked for setting up bogus toll plazas and extorting road tax from vehicles in Gujarat’s Morbi district. One of the persons named in the FIR is Amarshi Patel alias Amarshi Vansjaliya, son of Patidar leader and industrialist Jairam Vansjaliya, reports The Indian Express.
Police in its FIR said that the accused used to stop vehicles and force them to use the makeshift toll plazas they set up instead of the one operated by an authorised operator on a national highway.
The accused charges less money compared to the toll naka, according to police.
According to the FIR, five accused, including Amarshi, created bypass roads through WHTPL premises on the east of the NHAI toll plaza and through Vaghasia village west of the toll plaza, diverted vehicles to these bypass roads and extorted toll tax from vehicle drivers who took the bypasses.
However, Jairam has maintained that his family had leased the factory on the premises of which the bogus toll plaza was set up to a private entity, adding that his son had no role in the factory.
Vansjaliya told the media in Rajkot that White House Tiles Pvt Ltd (WHTPL), a ceramic tile manufacturing unit located on the eastern boundary of Vaghasia toll plaza of the NHAI on NH 8A near Wankaner town, belongs to his family. He said that he had leased the factory to a third party.
“Factory was closed and therefore, we had leased it out. We don’t know what the lessee did thereafter,” Jairam said,
The other four accused include Ravirajsinh Zala, Harvijaysinh Zala, Dharmedrasinh Zala and Dharmendrasinh’s brother Yuvrajsinh Zala. Dharmendrasinh, the Sarpanch of Vaghasiya village, is the husband of Riyaba Zala, the former president of Wankaner taluka panchayat ruled by the BJP.
The five accused and other unidentified persons were booked under sections 384 (extortion), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 506 (2) (criminal intimidation) among others of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and efforts are underway to nab them. Efforts are on to nab the unidentified accused, reports PTI.
