Three held for issuing fake COVID challans

Three Civil Defence Volunteers have been arrested for allegedly issuing fake COVID-19 challans and collecting the penalty amount, the police said on Friday.

Sunny, Yashwant Rathi, and Lucky, were posted in the office of SDM (New Delhi) in Jamnagar House. They issued fake challans to people visiting the Talkatora Garden. The matter came to light on December 31 when a resident of Shakarpur was issued a challan for not wearing a face mask while he was sitting inside the garden with his friend, the police added.

In his complaint, the victim alleged that the three volunteers were in Khaki and told him that they were posted in the office of the SDM, New Delhi. They told us that since we had violated COVID-19 guidelines by not wearing face masks we would be fined ₹2,000 each, the complainant alleged, adding that since he did not have cash, he paid via Paytm.

The complainant, however, got suspicious and later approached the police.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Eish Singhal said, “We sought details of the Paytm beneficiary. We got to know that the mobile number was registered in the name of a civil defence employee named Sunny.”

The challans were found to be forged and the three were arrested, the officer said. “All the accused confessed that they had captured the COVID-19 violation challan format on their phones from the SDM office and had prepared colour printouts. They then started issuing them to people who were not wearing masks,” the DCP said.