Fake toll plaza in Gujarat dupes govt officials for 1.5 years

Many government officials, commuters, and police were cheated for around one-and-a-half years by a group of individuals who were operating a fake toll plaza on the Bamanbore-Kutch national highway in Gujarat's Morbi district, according to a report.

The deceptive toll collection point was being operated on private land. It used to charge toll fees at half the standard rate to dupe citizens as well as local law enforcement and high-ranking government officials in the district, for a continuous period of one and a half years.

The report stated that private landowners in Morbi were cheating all commuters with thousands of rupees every day for more than a year.

Local district collector GT Pandya said the administration received information that the toll tax was being collected by diverting some vehicles from the actual route of the Varghasia toll plaza.

He informed that the police and other officials reached the fake toll plaza spot to investigate the case after filing a detailed complaint in this matter.

The defendants were discovered to have used property owned by the now-closed White House Ceramic Company to swerve traffic away from the intended path, sources reported.

Police registered a complaint against the factory owner Amarshi Patel and four others who have been identified as Harvijay Singh Jhala, Yuvraj Singh Jhala, Vanraj Singh Jhala, and Dharmendra Singh Jhala.