Fake RTO Officers Arrested For Extorting Money From Truck Drivers, Mahindra Scorpio Seized [Video]

In the past, we have come across reports of different kinds of scams on Indian roads. There are people who rob others at night, and there are even cases where people extort money from road users in many other ways. One such case has now come to light where a group of men posing as RTO officers attempted to extort money from truck drivers and got caught.

A group of unidentified individuals had been posing as officers from the Regional Transport Office and tried to extort around Rs 25,000 from a truck driver. This happened near Devrai, Taluka Pathardi, District Ahilyanagar. The matter came to light when Vinod Sagare, Regional Transport Officer (RTO), Ahilyanagar, received information from Baba Balbhim Sanap, President of the Motor Owners Welfare Association, Ahilyanagar District, via a phone call.

Upon investigating, the officers found that a fake RTO flying squad was using a Mahindra Scorpio vehicle with a number plate closely resembling that of an official RTO vehicle. The actual RTO vehicle’s number was MH04 KR 6404, while the fake one used MH04 LT 6404. On 7th May around 5 AM, the fake RTO squad stopped a six-wheeled goods truck driven by Ashok Narhari Panchal of Shivaji Nagar, Beed. He was enroute Beed from Ahilyanagar.

The fake squad, in the Mahindra Scorpio SUV with counterfeit stickers, approached the truck and asked the driver to pull over. The man posing as an officer told the driver that the fitness certificate of the truck had expired and that a fine of Rs 64,000 was pending.

He allegedly then demanded Rs 25,000 to settle the issue and asked the driver to transfer the amount to the number of an individual named Ajay Panwala. The driver suspected foul play and called Baba Balbhim Sanap.

Sanap joined the driver on the call, spoke to the impostors, and also contacted the actual RTO officers. The impostor claimed to be "Suryawanshi" from the Wadala RTO and said he was traveling to Beed on official duty. Sanap recorded the call and shared it with the concerned authorities.

After receiving the details, the authorities conducted a quick inquiry using the vehicle number and the name. It was found that a vehicle with the same number belongs to the Thane RTO, but there was no officer named Suryawanshi employed at the RTO.

That’s when the department went ahead and filed an official police complaint. This was clearly a deliberate act of impersonating a government official to extort money, and the culprits were also misusing government insignia. The police arrested two individuals in connection with the case.

The accused were caught after the authorities informed Beed police about the vehicle, and the officers detained it. Beed police discovered that a similar scam had been carried out by the same group in their area as well. After completing the legal procedure, Beed police handed the accused over to Pathardi Police for further investigation. This is the first time such a case has been registered with the Pathardi Police.