AIMIM candidate for Dumri bypoll booked for 'pro-Pakistan' slogan raised during Owaisi's rally
Giridih (PTI): AIMIM candidate for Dumri by-election has been booked for alleged 'pro-Pakistan' slogan raised during the party chief Asaduddin Owaisi's public rally in Jharkhand's Giridih district, a senior official said on Thursday.
Giridih Deputy Commissioner (DC) Naman Priyesh Lakra told PTI that the FIR was lodged at Dumri police station against AIMIM candidate Abdul Mobin Rizvi, as he was the organiser of the programme, one Muzaffar Hasan Nurani and others.
The action came after a video went viral on social media, where it was heard that someone from the audience raised 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogan during the speech of Owaisi on Wednesday
"It came to our notice that the slogan of Pakistan Zindabad was raised from the audience during the speech of AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi. After observing the video recorded during the speech by the video observation team, it was found that the act is a violation of the model code of conduct and an attempt to disturb communal harmony," according to an official statement issued by the Giridih district administration.
The flying squad, constituted for the Dumri by-election, lodged the FIR at Dumri police station under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act, it stated. Police are on the hunt for the person who raised the slogan.
Dumri Block Development Officer (BDO), Anwesha Ona, who is also a member of the flying squad, said that the alleged video footage was examined with the footage of their videographers' team before lodging the FIR. "Now police will take action accordingly," she told PTI.
The AIMIM Jharkhand president Md Shakir, however, refuted the allegation terming it a "tampered video".
Owaisi was in Giridih district on Wednesday and addressed a public rally to seek votes for his party's candidate Md Abdul Mobin Rizvi in the Dumri assembly bypoll.
The polling for the by-election to the Dumri assembly constituency will be held on September 5, and the votes will be counted on September 8.
The by-election was necessitated due to the death of JMM MLA Jagarnath Mahto, the former education minister, in April. The JMM has fielded Mahto's wife Bebi Devi as the candidate of the INDIA bloc, while the AJSU Party has nominated Yashoda Devi as the NDA candidate.
In the 2019 assembly elections, Mahto defeated AJSU Party's Yashoda Devi by a margin of 34,288 votes. AIMIM's Rizvi was in the fourth position with 24,132 votes.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
