Raipur (Chhattisgarh): As many as 17 of 20 vehicles belonging to the Income Tax Department were towed and later seized by the Raipur Police on Thursday midnight for having been "parked at a no-parking zone" in the capital city of Chhattisgarh.
The cars were called in from Bhilai at 8 pm for driving a team of IT officials, who had arrived from Delhi to Raipur for conducting raids across the city.
Kishan Sonkar, one of the drivers of the vehicles that were seized, accused the police of not following protocol and arbitrarily seizing the cars.
"Yesterday (Thursday) around 8 pm the cars were called in from Bhilai. Income tax officers were arriving from outside the state. Upon arriving at Raipur the cars were parked at the Income Tax office premise. Around 11:30 at night, an IT official came and asked us to take the cars to Raj Talkies and we obliged, " Sonkar told ETV Bharat.
He added, "Around 12-12:30 am several policemen came and checked all the papers related to the vehicles, and took 17 cars to the Raipur police line for parking the cars at a no-parking zone. We asked them to charge us for the offence and let go of the cars, but they said that they will only hand over the keys after speaking to the IT officials. "
With the vehicles still parked at the Raipur police line premise, the drivers have been forced to stay put at the spot since last night.
