Man held for cheating parents seeking school admissions; cop suspended for providing data
Mumbai (PTI): A case of cheating has been registered here against two persons including a traffic police constable for allegedly duping several people by offering to facilitate school or college admissions for their children.
While Mehfooz Zaki Ahmed Sheikh alias Rajesh Kotwani was arrested last week, co-accused constable Amol Dattatreya Awaghade was put under suspension after the offences came to light, said an official of BKC police station on Wednesday.
Sheikh allegedly clicked pictures of the number plates of cars arriving outside schools and colleges, and sent them to the constable, he said.
Awaghade obtained information about the people driving in these cars from official data, using the e-challan machine used to fine vehicles breaking traffic rules, the official added.
Sheikh then contacted these persons, and offered to arrange admission for their children in a particular school or college for a certain "fee".
The concerned schools and colleges remained unaware of this racket.
After several parents complained of losing money to this kind of cheating, BKC police formed an investigation team and arrested Sheikh last week.
During the interrogation, he allegedly named Awaghade as his source of information.
The constable was suspended on November 28 and a departmental inquiry has been initiated against him, the police official said.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
