6 nabbed in UP's Ballia for road extortion; hunt for cop involved on

Ballia (UP), Dec 23 (PTI) Six people were arrested here for allegedly extorting money from motorists by forcibly pasting reflective (radium) stickers on their vehicles, an officer said on Tuesday.

A police constable, posted at Kasimabad Police Station in neighbouring Ghazipur district, and a home guard, are also suspected to be a part of the gang, and a hunt for them is on, he said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Alok Gupta said police on Monday were informed that some people in a Bolero vehicle were stopping vehicles near Kisan Inter College and extorting money from them for high-visibility stickers.

The matter was brought to light by Rameshwar Singh Dabbu of Sardaspur village who complained against seven unidentified persons of extortion.

An FIR under Section 308 (extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was filed at his complaint on Monday at Rasra Kotwali.

Dabbu alleged that on Sunday night, while returning home in his vehicle, he was stopped on the Rasra-Kasimabad road by some men, two of them in police uniform, and was asked for money for radium stickers.

When he refused, they allegedly threatened him with violence.

Acting on the complaint, police arrested Anuj Giri and Mandeep Maurya, both aged 22, from Kahinaur village under Sarai Lakhansi Police Station in Mau district.

The other four were Ramdhyayan Yadav, 32, of Gajenderpur village, and Dheeraj Giri, 25, Amit Giri, 27, and Ajay Yadav, 30, of Azamgarh district.

Police found on them 284 collection slips of denominations ranging from Rs 50 to Rs 300, three bundles of white, red, yellow radium stickers, six mobile phones, and Rs 12,530 in cash, Gupta said.

With fog reducing visibility on roads, the Uttar Pradesh government recently directed authorities to step up anti-collision measures, such as distributing reflective tapes. PTI COR KIS VN VN