₹30,000 fines settled for ₹200: Inside Delhi’s 15-year fake sticker-extortion racket

In a sprawling racket that infiltrated the very heart of Delhi’s traffic enforcement system, commercial vehicle owners routinely evaded hefty pollution and traffic fines — sometimes exceeding ₹30,000 — by paying mere hundreds of rupees through a nexus of corrupt cops and criminal gangs.

Operating unchecked for nearly 15 years, this sophisticated scam involved the sale of fake stickers promising free passage through no-entry zones, backed by brazen blackmail and extortion of traffic police officers themselves.

Investigations have revealed that the syndicate, masterminded by kingpin Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, deployed multiple gangs targeting drivers district-wise. They sold counterfeit stickers priced between ₹2,000 and ₹5,000 monthly, assuring drivers that no challans would be issued against their vehicles.

When enforcement officers resisted, the gangs allegedly fabricated video evidence of bribery, coercing them into compliance — a chilling weapon that escalated into outright blackmail.

A senior Delhi Police officer privy to the probe disclosed, “These gangs guaranteed to pay off even high-value challans through their police contacts at Lok Adalats, slashing official penalties from tens of thousands to a few hundred rupees. They cultivated inside information on sticker colors and operational areas through monthly bribes to traffic personnel, who were coerced into facilitating passage for flagged vehicles.”

The syndicate’s reach extended deep into the police force, with one sub-inspector reportedly paying ₹1.5 lakh to silence exposure of a covert recording made by a driver. However, the racket’s demands turned more sinister when Raju allegedly leveraged videos to extract sexual favors from female traffic officers, triggering complaints and the transfer of at least 14 related cases to the Crime Branch.

This week, Delhi Police dismantled three key gangs, arresting eight members including Raju, his lieutenant Jeeshan Ali, and Outer Delhi’s operator Rinku Rana. Additional operatives like Sonu Sharma ran real-time WhatsApp alerts to help commercial drivers dodge checkpoints, aided by insider tips from compromised officers.

DCP (Crime) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav affirmed, “Our probe uncovered dual parallel systems — one selling fake stickers, another blackmailing traffic personnel with falsified video evidence. The magnitude of the syndicate’s infiltration into enforcement agencies is staggering.”

Raju now faces charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), as police vow to root out this corrosive web of corruption that undermined Delhi’s traffic laws and victimized law-abiding citizens for over a decade.