Five nabbed for extortion

Kanpur: A police team, acting on complaints of extortion on highways, conducted a surprise check at a highway in Bhognipur (Ramabai Nagar). Five persons were arrested from the spot and illegal toll gates erected by them were dismantled. Those arrested included A Khan, Rakesh Kumar, Arun Kumar, Irshad and one other.
When the police, acting on a tip-off reached the spot, the five accused were caught red-handed extorting money from the driver of a heavy vehicle, late on Tuesday night.
The police team was headed by SP, Ramabai Nagar, Subhash Chandra Dubey who revealed that a drive has been launched to curb extortion on highways. "Over the past few days, complaints of illegal toll collection were lodged at various police stations. It is a harassment for commuters and also there are regular traffic jams on the national highway because of these illegal toll gates,'' the SP said.
According to sources, one of the complainants, Mohd Akram has alleged that armed men are manning illegal toll gates along the highways in the district and extorting Rs 100 to Rs 200 per truck per trip.