A home guard attached to Kolkata’s Ultadanga Traffic Guard was arrested on Monday night for allegedly accepting a Rs 2,500 bribe from truck drivers to allow freight vehicles into roads where entry was restricted, according to the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Bengal police.
The arrest is linked to an alleged wider racket that enabled trucks to enter restricted areas in Kolkata, Howrah, Baruipur and other towns across south Bengal. Police sources said multiple complaints had been received about the illegal movement of freight vehicles before the investigation led to the home guard’s arrest.
Investigators suspect that the operation involved more than individual bribe-taking and may have been supported by a network connecting truck drivers, intermediaries and personnel responsible for traffic enforcement. The ACB is now working to identify others allegedly associated with the operation, including police officers who may have facilitated the movement of trucks during restricted hours.
The investigation expanded after the ACB arrested Sanjeev, described by investigators as a key figure in the alleged syndicate, in Howrah on Thursday. During interrogation, detectives reportedly found that the syndicate’s leaders had links with certain government officials, according to police sources.
Sanjeev allegedly collected money from truck drivers and issued them special cards. Drivers carrying these cards could allegedly secure passage through designated traffic guards in Kolkata, Howrah and Baruipur, even when restrictions on truck movement were in force. The alleged arrangement allowed freight vehicles to bypass the controls intended to manage congestion and regulate heavy traffic on urban roads.
An ACB official said the alleged corruption network had been operating across south Bengal for 12 years, since 2014. Investigators suspect that the leaders of the syndicate made regular payments to traffic police personnel in return for allowing trucks to move through restricted areas.
The alleged racket has implications for the enforcement of freight restrictions in Kolkata and surrounding urban areas, where controls on heavy vehicles are used to manage road capacity and traffic flows. If confirmed, the use of special cards and payments to enforcement personnel would indicate that vehicles were not merely bypassing individual checkpoints but allegedly accessing a coordinated system across multiple traffic jurisdictions.
The ACB is identifying police officers allegedly involved in the operation and may summon them for questioning. The home guard’s arrest is being examined as part of the same investigation, while further action will depend on the evidence collected by the agency.
