Accusing the police officials of being hand in glove with agents and taxi owners, who operate illegal taxi service near station chowk, sources in the Pune-Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai Taxi Associations claimed the agents were paying the officials a hafta of Rs 3 lakh a month to run their business uninterruptedly.

They claimed that about 500 illegal vehicles were offering services to commuters at legal taxi stands on a daily basis.u00a0Investigation done by this correspondent into the claims made by the sources revealed that Railway Parcel office gate, Swami Samarth temple, Gandhi Putala parking, Samrat Hotel lane, Pune station police chowky and Station post office were the hotspots of illegal taxi services.