📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / শরদিন্দু ভট্টাচার্য্য
Crime
ED raids several states over alleged NHAI toll plaza collection fraud
✍️ The Hindu
🗓 03 Sep 2026, 05:47 AM
👁 4
The Enforcement Directorate conducted coordinated raids across multiple states today, targeting officials linked to a suspected fraud in National Highways Authority of India toll‑plaza collections.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a series of raids in several Indian states on Monday, focusing on individuals alleged to have been involved in a fraud concerning toll‑plaza collections of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Teams of investigators entered offices, warehouses and residences, seizing documents and electronic devices that could shed light on the alleged irregularities.
According to the ED, the probe centres on the manipulation of toll receipts and diversion of funds collected at NHAI‑operated plazas. Investigators suspect that false entries were made in the accounting records, enabling certain officials to siphon off revenue meant for the highway authority.
NHAI officials, when approached for comment, said they were cooperating fully with the investigation and that the agency maintains strict oversight of toll‑collection mechanisms. The ED, in a brief statement, said the raids were part of an ongoing effort to curb financial crimes in the infrastructure sector and that further actions would follow based on the evidence gathered.
The raids underscore heightened scrutiny of public‑private partnerships in road projects, with authorities signalling that any misuse of public funds will be pursued rigorously under existing anti‑corruption laws.
According to the ED, the probe centres on the manipulation of toll receipts and diversion of funds collected at NHAI‑operated plazas. Investigators suspect that false entries were made in the accounting records, enabling certain officials to siphon off revenue meant for the highway authority.
NHAI officials, when approached for comment, said they were cooperating fully with the investigation and that the agency maintains strict oversight of toll‑collection mechanisms. The ED, in a brief statement, said the raids were part of an ongoing effort to curb financial crimes in the infrastructure sector and that further actions would follow based on the evidence gathered.
The raids underscore heightened scrutiny of public‑private partnerships in road projects, with authorities signalling that any misuse of public funds will be pursued rigorously under existing anti‑corruption laws.