Another arrest made in illegal bus operating racket

LUCKNOW : The Lucknow police, on Sunday, arrested one of the key accused Ajay Pratap Singh Chauhan involved in extorting money from private bus operators at Polytechnic crossing and Chinhat crossing for the past many years, said senior police officials.

The Lucknow police press note stated that Chauhan was arrested for extorting money from the private bus operators by threatening them with dire consequences.

The officials said the police are further verifying his criminal record from his native place in Unnao.

A senior police official said the police are further carrying out raids to arrest the other three accused — Bhanu Pratap Singh, Rishi Srivastava and Rahul Yadav — involved in this money extortion racket.

He said a police team has been sent to Deoria to arrest kingpin Bhanu Pratap Singh, who is allegedly a historysheeter. Several criminal cases are lodged against Bhanu Pratap Singh.

Earlier, Lucknow joint commissioner of police (law and order), Piyush Mordia, conducted a raid at Polytechnic Crossing, on Saturday, and arrested Aditya Kumar Agrahari, in this matter, while others involved in the racket managed to flee from the spot.

The raid was carried out after multiple complaints were made to police about money being extorted from private bus operators operating on Lucknow-Gorakhpur, Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Basti, Bahraich and Gonda routes.

In this connection, an FIR (First Information Report) was lodged under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 386 for extortion by issuing life threats against four persons, Bhanu Pratap Singh, Rishi Srivastava, Ajay Pratap Singh Chauhan and Rahul Yadav, at Chinhat police station.