Extortion racket: Three more IAS officers under scanner

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 28

Three more IAS officers are under the scanner in the extortion racket pertaining to the overloading of vehicles carrying construction material. These IAS officers had been posted in the areas where the inter-district racket was going on.

So far, IAS couple Sangeeta Tetarwal, former Charkhi Dadri ADC-cum RTA Secretary, and her husband Ajay Tomar have joined the investigation and have to answer a questionnaire within a week.

Talking to The Tribune, Rohtak SP Rahul Sharma said, “So far, notices were issued only to two IAS officers and they have joined the investigation. The role of other officers is being looked into.”

He added, “We are collecting the data. Neither are we saying that more officers are involved, nor are we giving them a clean chit at this moment.”

Sharma heads the Special Investigation Team formed to probe the alleged extortion from operators of overloaded trucks.

It was the Rohtak police which had unearthed the racket in May.

It has been alleged that some people in collusion with RTA officials were extorting money from the operators of overloaded vehicles carrying building material by threatening to challan them.

The overloaded vehicles were allowed to pass through Dadri, Narnaul, Jhajjar, Rohtak, Bhiwani and Sonepat districts without getting challaned.

Acting on a tip-off, a special team comprising officials of the CIA wing and cyber cell officials had arrested middlemen Ravinder, alias Kala, of Bahadurgarh and Surender Rathi of Rohtak who were extorting money from the vehicle operators.

Later, RTA officials Manish Madan and Amit and the then Charkhi Dadri Deputy Commissioner’s personal assistant Suresh were also arrested. An amount of Rs63.79 lakh was seized from the possession of the arrested persons.

Two cars have also been seized in the case. A case for extortion and under the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against them.