Karnataka Assembly passes bills on salary hike for CM, lawmakers
Bengaluru, Mar 21 (PTI): The Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Friday passed bills approving a salary hike for the Chief Minister, Ministers, and all legislators, which will cost the exchequer Rs 62 crore annually.
The Karnataka Ministers Salaries and Allowance (Amendment) Bill and the Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pensions and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2025 were passed amid chaos, without any discussion, as the opposition BJP protested against the 4 per cent reservation for Muslims in public contracts and demanded a judicial probe into an alleged "honey-trap" attempt involving a minister.
As per the Karnataka Ministers Salaries and Allowance (Amendment) Bill, the Chief Minister’s monthly salary will increase from Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh, while ministers’ salaries will rise from Rs 60,000 to Rs 1.25 lakh.
The Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pensions and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2025 raises the monthly salaries of MLAs and MLCs from Rs 40,000 to Rs 80,000, while their pensions will increase from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000.
The monthly salary of the Assembly Speaker and Legislative Council Chairperson will also be revised from Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.25 lakh.
"There has been a considerable increase in the cost of living. The salaries and allowances of the CM, ministers, ministers of state, and deputy ministers have not been revised for a long time," the Minister's Salaries and Allowance (Amendment) Bill stated, adding that the proposed measure will lead to an additional recurring expenditure of approximately Rs 10 crore per year.
Similarly, citing the "considerable increase in the cost of living," the Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pensions and Allowances (Amendment) Bill justified the hike in salaries and allowances of parliamentary functionaries and legislators, estimating an additional recurring expenditure of Rs 52 crore annually.
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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.
