Mumbai Crime: Six clean-up marshals turn criminals, held for extortion

A court on Thursday remanded the marshals in police custody till May 29. Pic/Rajesh Gupta

Six clean-up marshals, deployed to enforce the mandatory facemask rule and collect fines from violators, turned into criminals by extorting thousands of rupees from drivers of heavy duty vehicles at Airoli Toll Naka.

Thanks to a responsible citizen, their racket was busted on Wednesday afternoon when Navghar police caught them in the act. They were arrested on Thursday and sent to police custody till May 29. Preliminary investigation has revealed they were extorting people for a couple of months.

The marshals would stop vehicles to check drivers of tempo, trucks and trailers for masks, sanitisers and whether they were chewing tobacco, and would extort anything between Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000 from violators. A motorist had noticed them harassing the drivers and informed the police.

Robert D'souza, vice president of The Bombay Catholic Sabha, was passing through the toll naka about a fortnight ago and witnessed a truck driver pleading to a clean-up marshal. "I saw a similar incident a week back, and found it to be pretty strange. I spoke to the drivers and learnt that the marshals had extorted Rs 1,000 from them for chewing tobacco. I immediately informed the Navghar police," he said.

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"After receiving the information, we laid a trap on Wednesday and detained six people. We found out that they were extorting more than Rs 3,000," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 7) Prashant Kadam.

The marshals - Suraj Pandey, 23, Nikhil Kalkuthe, 31, Jitendra Darveshi, 32, Praveen Karande, 31, Rohan Kharate, 23 and Deepesh Gholap, 26, - have confessed, police said. They have been booked under sections of the IPC.

"There modus was to stop heavy vehicles, check if people were wearing masks or had tobacco in their possession. If they found anything, they would demand money and threaten them with arrest claiming it was the new rule. In some cases, they have taken money via digital mode as well," said a police officer.

According to the rules, clean-up marshals have to deposit the entire fine amount collected during the day along with the receipts, and are paid 10 per cent of the collection. Police found that these six marshals hadn't issued even a single receipt since March this year, and suspect that they did not deposit the money to their superiors.

"We are checking whether the contractor is also part of the racket, and if more marshals were involved in this," said Sunil Kamble, senior inspector of Navghar police station. "We produced them in the court which remanded them in police custody till May 29."