Sunil Bhagwantrao Toke, a police head constable, has filed a criminal petition in the Bombay High Court, against officers in the Traffic Police Department alleging rampant corruption.
Mr. Toke has sought filing an FIR against the Director General of Police, Commissioner of Police, Joint Commissioner of Police and Director General of the Anti Corruption Bureau. Mr. Toke was recruited in 1985 and has been serving at the Armed Police Force, Worli, since August 2016.
His petition states, “In each and every region of the Traffic Police Department there are two constables, known as cashiers, who are unofficially deputed to collect daily/monthly hafta of around Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 10,000 from old and new two-wheeler and four-wheeler show rooms.
He has alleged that the traffic police collected Rs. 100 to Rs. 200 daily, and Rs. 25,000 to Rs 30,000 a month from those ferrying ready-mix cement, sand, bricks and other construction material. The petition says, “for each overloaded sand truck, Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 4,000 is collected.”
He said owners of vehicles parked unlawfully on roads near malls, hotels, beer bars, marriage halls are asked to cough up Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 10,000 per month, while owners of illegal school vans and buses are asked to pay Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000. Each vehicle that enters city by evading octroi is charged Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 5000.
Mr. Toke said since 2014 he has filed complaints and has submitted audio recordings and 26 CDs (showing acts of corruption by the traffic officials). However, no action has been taken so far. He demanded that a special investigation team be constituted to probe the allegations. The matter is expected to come up for hearing.
Mr .Toke had claimed in his complaint that he was being harassed by his superiors as he chose not to be part of a corrupt system. Last year, he had also written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis raising the same allegations.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Milind Bharambe could not be reached for comment.
