Cops on extortion spree caused E-way mishap?

The top officials of Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) who died in a road mishap on Yamuna Expressway last Wednesday, would have been alive had  UP cops not gone out on their usual extortion patrol. Allegations have been made that the accident took place not due to fog but illegal parking of trucks in the name of vehicle checking, which led to the car pile-up on the carriageway that turned fatal. Notably, the district authorities of Gautam Buddh Nagar have not denied the allegation and have promised to investigate the matter. Notably, two senior officials of BHEL along with others died on the expressway on Wednesday morning when more than four dozen vehicles engaged each other near the Jewar toll plaza on Yamuna expressway.

As the 165-kilometre long carriageway witnessed its longest ever vehicle pile-up since its commissioning three years back , questions are being raised over parking of a truck on the stretch into which the SUV ferrying the BHEL officials collided. It is being claimed that few more trucks parked there made matters worse. While talking to eyewitnesses and other locals, who had carried out the rescue work, it was learnt that the local police had stopped trucks and were conducting checking drive while expressway was made for uninterrupted plying of vehicles.

Villagers living along the carriageway revealed that patrolling teams of certain police stations, in complicity with Jaypee patrolling teams stop trucks and other heavy vehicles at four-five point crossings including entry/exit ramps and haul up drivers.  In a quid- pro-quo, they not only extort money but allow them to station their vehicles on the busy stretch for several hours. Sometimes, they stop trucks in the middle of the road which endangers motorists using the expressway . 

“As the accident led to massive disruptions on the expressway, we along with local villagers joined the rescue operations within a few minutes. We knew that it was the police which had forced a truck to park at an unsafe place. We also saw other trucks parked a few metres away from the spot,” said Suresh Chaudhary, a resident of Jewar.

Senior police officials said that the allegation was being probed by  gazetted officials and if policemen were found involved in illegal parking of the truck that caused the accident, action will be taken against them. 

“As we heard about the insensitive attitude of police personnel who were on patrolling duty, we recommended a thorough investigation into the matter. Inquiry has been initiated at the district level to check allegation of delay in rescue work by  local police,’ said Brajesh Kumar Singh, Superintendent of Police (Rural) of Greater Noida.