‘Entry mafia’ busted in Bihar

June 16, 2015 02:07 am | Updated 02:07 am IST - Patna:

The “entry mafia,” which has made strong inroads into police and political class in Bihar, causing losses of hundreds of crores to the State exchequer, has been busted recently but the kingpin is still at large.

The modus operandi allowed thousands of trucks to enter Bihar illegally with forged documents from neighbouring Jharkhand through the main check post on the Grand Trunk (GT) road in Gaya district.

Every day, nearly 4,000 trucks pass through the Dobhi Integrated check post on GT road in Gaya, bordering Aurangabad district and about a third of them cross the check post with forged documents provided by the “entry mafia” for a fee of Rs. 3,500 per truck.

According to a rough estimate, the “entry mafia” has been causing an annual loss of over Rs. 300 crore to the exchequer through non-payment of taxes and violation of laws.

Dobhi in Gaya is the main entry point from Jharkhand while Mohania in Rohtas is the main entry point for trucks from Uttar Pradesh; these are the places where the “entry mafia” operates with impunity. The trucks plying with illegal goods are provided forged documents (samples of them are with The Hindu ) and a code is written on the windscreen for their smooth passage through the check post.

Once the mafia was paid, the vehicles did not have to pay other levy at the check post or anywhere else on GT road. “Those who do not agree to pay them are being caught by the police on a tip-off by the entry mafia,” said a truck driver Gopal Yadav.

“For trucks passing through the check post several times in a month, there was a provision of a monthly pass for a fixed amount of Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000,” Mr Yadav said.

It was the same GT road from where recently a prominent doctor couple of Gaya was hijacked in their luxury car, which was later recovered from a flat in Lucknow.

It was during the investigation of the doctor couple’s kidnapping that the modus operandi of the “entry mafia” came to light but the local police could not do much given the close nexus with senior policemen and politicians.

“The volume of money involved was so huge that nobody dared to speak against the entry mafia,” Shalin, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Gaya, told The Hindu . Mr. Shalin joined Gaya as DIG Magadh range on May 7 and, the first case against “entry mafia” was lodged on May 16 at the Amas police station while the second case was registered on May 23 at the Sherghati police station.

Kingpin identified

The kingpin of the entry mafia Aurangzeb alias Raju Khan belongs to Chatra district of Jharkhand and owns vast property including operating several petrol pumps, possesses sophisticated firearms and is said to enjoy the patronage of a top police official and a politician of Bihar. No politician of the State has yet raised the issue of the entry mafia.

However, police have obtained the call data records of Aurangzeb and the details have some information about his links with senior police officials of the State.

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