Accused traffic cop has venal history, was earlier fined ₹5k

Ahmedabad: Mukesh Chaudhary, the assistant sub-inspector with A Division traffic police who is accused of extorting Rs 60,000 from the Bopal couple, was in July 2019 accused of illegally taking money over instances of illegal parking on Science City Road.After that accusation, Chaudhary was let off by city traffic police with a mere Rs 5,000 fine by then DCP traffic (west) of Ahmedabad city, Tejas Patel, in July 2020. Chaudhary continued to work in the same A Division traffic police station. According to Sola resident Rohit Patel, he had found that Chaudhary had issued forged memos to at least five persons who had parked within a no parking zone on Science City Road on July 16, 2019. Rohit Patel raised the issue with traffic police officers and DCP Tejas Patel began an inquiry and fined Chaudhary Rs 5,000. He faced no other punitive measures.Tejas Patel, now commandant of SRPF Group 16 in Bhachau, confirmed this incident. Milan Kela, 33, a resident of Orchid Divine near Sobo Centre in South Bopal, had on August 26 filed a complaint with Sola police, alleging that two policemen and a TRB jawan extorted Rs 60,000 from him and his wife Priyanka, when they were going home with their one-year-old child from the city airport. The accused — TRB jawan Vishal Solanki, ASI Chaudhary and constable Ashok Patel of A Division traffic police — allegedly threatened to implicate them in a case, for being out late at night.Sola police initially filed a complaint of extortion and abetment. After a hue and cry over the issue, police were compelled to arrest the accused and add charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act.