Toll extortion racket: 4 SAP personnel held

Sasaram: Police have busted an alleged extortion racket operating near a toll plaza on the GT Road, arresting nine people, including four Special Auxiliary Police (SAP) personnel. A sum of Rs 57,760 in cash and nine cellphones were seized during the operation.Sub-divisional police officer Gopal Krishna said police received information about illegal collections from vehicles near the toll plaza. On the directions of SP Shikhar Chaudhary, a special team led by the traffic DSP conducted a late-night raid on Monday.Police alleged the team caught the four SAP personnel and five civilians red-handed while collecting money illegally from vehicles at a transport check-post.The arrested SAP personnel were identified as Nawal Kishore Prasad, Anil Kumar Singh, Chandrabhushan Singh and Manoj Kumar. The civilians arrested are Anil Kumar, Madan Kharwar, Veer Bahadur Paswan, Santosh Kumar and Neeraj Kumar Singh.The SDPO said an FIR has been registered against all the accused under relevant legal provisions. They were produced before a court and sent to judicial custody.