Traffic extortion: 2 more arrested, total reaches 20

New Delhi: The crime branch arrested two key figures, including one of the masterminds, in connection with an extortion racket targeting traffic police personnel. Besides stickers, the gang also used keyrings, which provided hassle-free movement of the vehicle without any documentation.DCP Sanjeev Yadav said the accused were identified as 38-year-old Jai Bhagwan, a seasoned criminal with a history of murder and dacoity, and 26-year-old Shivam Sharma, a key associate who was nabbed in Uttar Pradesh's Farrukhabad. Police seized 282 fraudulent stickers, six mobile phones and a Swift Dzire car. The latest arrests brought the total number of arrests to 20.Bhagwan, who stays in Rithala and is originally from Haryana, is alleged to be the leader of one syndicate and was previously involved in four criminal cases, including extortion of police personnel. Sharma, a driver, allegedly acted as a primary distributor for another gang leader, Jeeshan Ali.The gang ran a "parallel system" of traffic enforcement, which involved selling unauthorised "marka" stickers and keyrings to commercial vehicle owners for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per month, promising them immunity from police "challans" and illegal passage during restricted "no-entry" hours.To protect their clients and bypass the law, the syndicate also blackmailed traffic officers by filming them on duty and using edited versions of the footage to extort cooperation or force the release of seized vehicles.To reinforce their control, the syndicate used digital extortion. Its members filmed traffic police personnel while they performed their duties or prosecuted offenders. These videos were strategically edited and uploaded on social media platforms to harass and blackmail officers, effectively forcing them to release the syndicate's "protected" vehicles without penalty.The probe, however, remains silent on the role of traffic police personnel and senior officers. "Such an expansive and organised racket, operating openly on Delhi's roads, could not have functioned so effectively without the active collusion or systemic oversight of traffic personnel," said a senior officer. The nearest police reached within the department was the arrest of a traffic cop's wife.Sources said main kingpin Raju Meena, who was arrested earlier, was close to several senior traffic officers and even held grievance meetings where the targeted traffic cops sat on the floor. Police recovered several videos in which the traffic cops are seen accepting "challans". "It was unlikely that all of them were being blackmailed," the source added.