After collecting Rs 1,200 fine, Borivali GRP asks commuter to ‘go to court’ for receipt

A commuter likely unearthed a major scam on Monday when he learned that the Rs 1,200 penalty he paid to a Government Railway Police (GRP) official at Borivali station for a violation went straight into someone’s pocket and not the railway coffers.

The Incident:

Earlier today, Nishant Jasani boarded the 9:25 am from Virar, which arrived at Borivali’s platform number 4. Nishant then tried to board the Churchgate-bound local, which was stationed at platform number 3, by crossing between the trains.

No sooner he stepped on the local, an Railway Protection Force (RPF) official named Nadaf caught him and directed him to move out. Nishant, along with eight to ten other offenders, were then taken to the RPF chowky at platform 3 for processing.

They were first taken to the first floor, where they were asked to either shell out Rs 1,200 ‘bail’ penalty on the spot or visit the court. Not wanting to delay the matter, Nishant and several others agreed to pay the fine.

They were then taken to the ground floor counter, where a GRP official named Bhoir collected the amount.

“After handing over the cash, Bhoir wrote our name and mobile number on a piece of paper and asked us to leave. When I asked him for an acknowledgement of the payment, he told me I should have gone to the court if I needed a receipt,” Nishant told Local Press Co.

“Perplexed, almost everyone just handed over the cash and went their way,” he added.

The banker alleged that the official collected Rs 1,200 fine from at least eight or nine other people in front of him, accumulating well over Rs 10,000 in just a few minutes by taking undue advantage of commuters who are often strapped for time.

While there’s no saying how frequently this process repeats and how much it has cost railways till now, the amount could be substantial considering the sheer number of people that commute through, or violate rules at, Borivali station.

Incidentally, officials have to compulsorily take violators to court, which levies the penalty or punishment.

Escalation:

Knowing that he and his other fellow passengers had been conned by the officials, Nishant took to Twitter to highlight the incident, tagging Western Railway, WR’s Divisional Railway Manager, RPF Borivali among others.

A few minutes later, the Mumbai Central Division of the RPF asked him to share his number to better understand the issue. Unfortunately for Nishant, while he did receive a call, there was no resolution in sight.

“I was told to come to the station and file an FIR against the officials before any action could be taken. Which commuter has the time to do that?” he exclaimed.

I was being caught by @rpfborivali Nadaf & GRPF Bhoir they took 1200 Rs. But no acknowledgment was given to me neither receipt only on a piece of paper my name address and mobile number was written I request @PiyushGoyalOffc @drmbct @WesternRly @rpfcrbb to take action and update

— Nishant Jasani (@nishant_879) September 3, 2018

A message to Anup Shukla, Senior Divisional Commissioner for RPF on WR about the incident, and the possibility of conducting a probe into the matter, did not elicit a response as of publishing this report.

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Response from Anup Shukla SDC, RPF (WR):

“There is no RPF staff named ‘Nadaf’ at Borivali. We are investigating internally to ascertain if any RPF official was involved. Appropriate action will be taken if anyone is found guilty. If someone from any other department is involved, the matter will be forwarded to them.”

Note: This report was edited to include this response.