New Delhi/Allahabad, September 3, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted searches at 14 premises across Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal and the Delhi-NCR region as part of its money-laundering investigation into a nationwide toll plaza scam.
The searches were carried out by the ED's Allahabad Sub-Zonal Office under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The investigation stems from an FIR registered by the Uttar Pradesh Police concerning alleged fraudulent toll collection at Atraila Toll Plaza in Mirzapur and several other toll plazas across the country.
In January 2025, the state police had uncovered alleged fraud at Atraila Shiv Gulam Toll Plaza, where an unauthorized mobile application was reportedly used to collect toll from vehicles without FASTag or with insufficient FASTag balances.
According to the ED, the illegal application generated fake receipts and concealed the collections from the National Highways Authority of India's (NHAI) official system, allegedly causing substantial revenue loss.
The agency's investigation found that two unauthorized applications, 'Mobdata' and 'Any', were developed and deployed to facilitate such toll collections. Dedicated portals were also maintained to monitor the illegal transactions.
Forensic examination of digital devices seized from the accused indicated that the same mechanism was allegedly being used at around 100 toll plazas. Digital records reportedly showed unauthorized toll receipts involving crores of rupees.
The investigation has also brought under the ED scanner intermediaries and toll collection entities entrusted by NHAI with toll operations. A wider network involving additional toll plazas, individuals and entities has been identified and is being examined.
During Tuesday's searches, the ED seized approximately Rs 1.03 crore in cash, along with books of account, financial records, bank-related documents and digital devices. Eight bank lockers were also frozen.
The agency also recovered a large volume of material relating to toll-wise collection and reporting, non-FASTag collections, bank accounts, financial transactions and suspicious communications.
The ED said the recovery of cash and digital evidence has strengthened its investigation into the alleged systematic diversion of public revenue through unauthorized toll collection mechanisms.
Further investigation into the money-laundering aspects of the case is underway.