Two held for running illegal parking lot in Gurugram Sector 48

Gurugram police and the chief ministers flying squad on Monday booked two people for allegedly running an illegal parking lot during a joint raid in Sector 48. The parking lot was being run by encroaching on Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) land. The raid was part of a recent crackdown on groups running illegal parking lots across the city and extorting money from people, police said.

The suspects have been identified as Jitender Yadav aka Jeete, and Rakesh aka Golu from Kanhai. A case under sections 34 (common intention) and 384 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code was registered against them at Sadar police station on Monday.

The chief minister’s flying squad has identified at least 20 places where groups are running illegal paid parking lots. According to Inderjeet Yadav, deputy superintendent of police (DSP), CM’s flying squad, cops received a tip-off on Monday morning. They then notified HSVP officials following which a team was formed to conduct the raid. “The team reached the spot and encountered a man with parking slips who was charging ₹50 for car parking and ₹20 for two-wheeler parking,” he said.

Yadav said there were at least 70 cars and 20 two-wheelers parked in the lot. The parking attendant identified himself as Rakesh Singh of Sector 12 and had no valid documents for running the parking business. “He was paid 18,000 a month by the alleged owners of the illegal parking lot. He was running the operation for the last six months along with four others,” he added.

Inspector Harish Budhiraja, chief minister’s flying squad, said, “We have recovered data pertaining to the vehicles and confiscated parking slips from the attendant’s possession. We are verifying other details and the money trail so far,” he said. The suspects were also issuing monthly passes to people who worked in the commercial building near the parking lot, police informed.

Pravinder Kumar, junior engineer, HSVP, said that the suspects encroached on government land and were extorting money from people. “The suspects had no license or tender to charge anyone for parking. Since this land is owned by the HSVP, no commercial activities can take place on it,” he said.