Delhi Police arrest three volunteers held for issuing fake COVID challans 

NEW DELHI:  The Delhi Police on Friday arrested three civil defence volunteers from the New Delhi area for issuing fake Covid-19 challans to people visiting Talkatora Garden.

The arrested volunteers have been identified as Sunny Singh (19), Yashwant Rathi (21) and Lucky (20). They were working as Civil Defence volunteers in the office of Sub-District Magistrate (SDM), New Delhi. A first information report (FIR) has been registered under IPC sections of cheating and forgery.

“On 31st December, a 20-year-old boy filed a complaint alleging that three Delhi Civil Defence people had collected `4,000 from him and his friend after issuing a challan for not wearing masks at Talkatora Garden. They told the boy and his friend that are posted in SDM office and they are detailed for issuing challans for violation of Covid-19 norms,” said the police. 

The complainant told them that he did not have cash, so he paid the challan money via Paytm. “After getting suspicious over the authenticity of the challan, the complainant filed a complaint. A detailed inquiry was conducted and registration details of the alleged Paytm beneficiary were received. It was revealed that the mobile number was registered in the name of Sunny,” said the Police. 

The copy of the challan was also verified from SDM office. It was revealed that the challan was not issued from the SDM office and was fake and forged, the police added. “The accused had captured an image of the Covid-19 violation challan format in their mobile phones from the SDM office. After that, they took colour printouts of these and started issuing challans.

They mostly targeted couples who were found sitting without masks in the park/garden areas,” said the officials. Police said they have so far issued four challans in Talkatora Garden and the distributed the amount among themselves. “Investigation is in progress and it will be ascertained after the investigation as to how many persons have been created by the same modus-operandi,” said DCP Eish Singhal, New Delhi.