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Police said a retired Assistant Regional Transport Officer (ARTO) formerly working in Sunbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh state, has been arrested for his alleged involvement in preparing bogus release orders for trucks that were impounded by the mining department for violating the rules.
The accused, Praveen Shankar Rai, retired in August last year and was carrying a reward of Rs 25,000 on his head. A police officer said he had been on the run since November 2022 as he was later declared a criminal by a court.
Police became aware of the racket only last year after Al-Rai filed five preliminary information reports against the owners of 57 trucks for allegedly releasing their vehicles seized on bogus warrants.
“During the investigation, we found that the fake release orders were prepared in collusion with Ray’s office. He obtained an FIR filed against the vehicle owners a few months before his retirement just to distract attention from him,” said a police officer.
The loss to the state exchequer due to the accused was estimated by the police to be nearly Rs 30 lakh.
Police arrested Ray from his farm in Varanasi and registered a case against him under sections 419 (fraud by character), 420 (forgery), 471 (using original documents fraudulently or dishonestly),
467 (forgery of a valuable security) and 468 (forgery with intent to defraud) of the Indian Penal Code.
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