Lucknow: Kushinagar police on Sunday arrested two men for allegedly posing as GST officials and attempting to extort Rs 1.8 lakh from a truck driver on a national highway.The accused have been identified as Govind Sharma, a resident of Tamkuhiraj in Kushinagar, and Sandeep Yadav of the Turkpatti area. Police recovered a car, a motorcycle and mobile phones from their possession. The duo was produced before a court and sent to jail, while efforts are underway to arrest two other accomplices involved in the incident. According to police, truck driver Jaswant Singh, a resident of Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, had halted his vehicle near a petrol pump at Baghi, when four men on motorcycles approached him and identified themselves as GST officials. They demanded to see GST documents related to the consignment. Despite the driver producing valid papers, the accused allegedly declared them fake. They then demanded Rs 1.8 lakh as a penalty and began pressuring the driver and his helper to pay the amount. Sensing foul play, the driver contacted the vehicle owner, who confirmed that all documents were valid and advised him to inform the police. Acting smartly, the driver managed to alert Patherwa police while also clicking a photograph of a motorcycle’s number plate. On receiving the information, police launched a search operation and later apprehended two of the accused near Kajipur cut on the highway. SP, Kushinagar, Keshav Kumar, said a case has been registered based on the complaint filed by the truck owner, Ramrishi, a resident of Sirsa district in Haryana. Police are conducting raids to nab the remaining accused.
