In a recent crackdown against the parking mafia in Malad’s Malwani area, the police have arrested a key accused while another is absconding. The issue came to light following the murder of a 27-year-old Ola driver, Sahil Gujjar, allegedly by the mafia. The police crackdown comes days after mid-day exposed how illegal operators were extorting cab and autorickshaw drivers in the Malwani area.

According to sources, the mafia had turned the entire Lagoon Road into their personal empire, seizing government land, converting it into illegal parking lots, and forcing thousands of autorickshaw drivers, car drivers and owners, to cough up money. Each vehicle was charged R30 daily, with mafia henchmen threatening drivers with beatings if they refused.

“They had even installed CCTV cameras to keep a watch and ensure no driver escaped their extortion net,” said a police source. During the investigation, when the police raided a spot, they found the CCTV footage missing and that the alleged accused had escaped with the hard drive disk. Two complaints are registered with the Malwani police. In the first case, an autorickshaw driver filed a complaint against Imran Aslam Sheikh, 36.