Fake bus service for Bihar migrant workers in Delhi-NCR busted, 2 held

The Noida Police busted a fake bus service on Friday for duping people on the pretext of being a free transportation service of the Bihar government for migrant workers stranded in the Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region) due to the lockdown, officials said.

Two men were arrested and two privately-operated buses impounded during the police action around 1.30 am on a Noida-Greater Noida road, they said.

The accused had stationed the two buses bearing banners that read "Free bus service for migrant labourers by Bihar government", a police spokesperson said.

"When officials from the local Phase 2 police station noticed the matter, they inquired about it from some passengers sitting inside the bus, while the drivers were out on the road finding more passengers," he added.

"The passengers told the officials that they got on the bus thinking it was a free service but were being charged Rs 3,000 per passenger," the policeman said.

When inquired from the drivers, one of them showed a purported permission letter from the "District Magistrate of Siwan, Bihar" on his mobile phone but when asked for the original copy of the approval, he said he would fetch it from the bus but tried to flee and was held, the police said.

"When cross-checked, it emerged that no such pass or permission was issued by the Siwan DM as claimed by the drivers," the spokesperson said.

"Both the accused, Wakeel Khan of Ghaziabad and Rashid Kalam of Meerut, were arrested for violating the lockdown and duping the migrant workers," he said.

According to orders issued by the Gautam Buddh Nagar administration, inter-state and inter-district movement is prohibited during the lockdown, except in emergency cases for which passes have to be procured locally.