In one of its biggest operations this year, the Anti-Corruption Bureau on Tuesday morning conducted simultaneous surprise raids at four octroi nakas and four godowns in Mumbai, seized 31 vehicles carrying goods and detained 10 octroi officials for inquiries.
Officials said that the ACB had been working on information about a widespread octroi evasion racket being operated in connivance between transporters and octroi officials for the last 15 days. At around 2 am on Tuesday, ACB personnel, comprising 16 officers and 30 constables, assembled at the ACB headquarters, were divided into four teams and dispatched to the octroi nakas at Mulund, Dahisar, Vashi and Sewree.
All teams raided the nakas simultaneously at around 5 am, detaining the vehicles passing through and examining their octroi-related documents.
By Tuesday afternoon, 31 vehicles were found to be evading octroi.
“While some of these had declared their cargo to be as much as five times less than that of the actual weight, others were carrying bogus paperwork, declaring their consignments to be scrap and other cargos that elicit minimal octroi. In reality, these trucks were carrying cloth and steel, two commodities that are liable for the maximum octroi duty,” said an ACB official who was part of the raiding teams.
Moreover, the truck drivers resorted to an often-used tactic in order to derail such raids by leaving their trucks and trying to walk away.
The trucks abandoned in the middle of the road end up creating traffic jams, which in turn irks commuters who begin clamouring for officials to wind up the raid. However, the ACB quickly roped in the traffic police to prevent the truck drivers from abandoning their vehicles,and they were made to park them along the street and wait inside.
“As the raid progressed, we got to know about three godowns in Kalbadevi and one in Byculla owned by the transporters, and dispatched personnel there as well. Much of the cargo ferried by the transporters is stored there before being picked up by clients,” the officer added.
ACB additional commissioner Niket Kaushik said that 10 officials posted at the octroi nakas have been detained for questioning,although no arrests have been made as yet.