Berlin (AP): Harry Kane was substituted in at the hour mark and still had enough time to score a hat trick on Saturday.

The England captain took his goal tally for Bayern Munich this season to 28 and the defending champions extended their lead to 11 points after thrashing Stuttgart 5-0 on the road.

Second-placed Leipzig later hosted Eintracht Frankfurt.

With Kane on the bench, Konrad Laimer took on the scoring duties and produced a superb finish. The Austria midfielder collected a long ball and combined with Michael Olise before slotting home from close range with a subtle backheel past goalkeeper Alexander Nübel in the 11th minute.

Kane made it 2-0 with a low shot into the bottom corner and Josip Stanišic added his name to the scoresheet. Kane added further luster to the win from the penalty spot after Stuttgart was reduced to 10 men for Lorenz Assignon using his arm to clear a ball in the 81st.

Kane completed the rout with a flick from an Olise cross with two minutes left. He has found the net five more times with England this season, taking his total to 33 goals for club and country.

Stuttgart had chances before halftime but lacked a cutting edge. Midfielder Nikolas Nartey thought he equalized only for his goal to be ruled out for offside after a VAR check.

Bayern Munich is unbeaten in 16 league and cup games against German opposition this season.

 

Other results

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Bayer Leverkusen suffered a fourth loss, 2-0 at Augsburg.

Defender Dimitrios Giannoulis put the host in front after six minutes then turned provider to set up forward Anton Kade. Leverkusen, which hit the woodwork, remained in fourth place, 14 points behind Bayern.

Wolfsburg scored from all of its shots on target and moved four points clear of the relegation zone after beating Union Berlin 3-1. Heidenheim defeated Freiburg 2-1. Cologne and St. Pauli drew 1-1.

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Rajkot (PTI): Three officials of leading private banks were arrested for their alleged involvement in a Rs 2,500-crore cyber fraud racket in Gujarat's Rajkot district, bringing the number of those held so far in the case to 20, police said on Monday.

Those arrested were identified as Maulik Kamani, a personal manager at Yes Bank in Padadhari; Kalpesh Dangariya, a manager at Axis Bank in Jamnagar; and Anurag Baldha, a personal banker with HDFC Bank, Rajkot (Rural) Superintendent of Police Vijay Gurjar said.

Dangariya and Baldha were previously employed with Yes Bank, he added.

Kamani allegedly assisted the earlier arrested accused in opening and managing suspicious accounts. He also helped bypass banking alerts triggered by high-value transactions by submitting additional documentation to keep accounts active, the SP said.

Kamani was allegedly involved in cash withdrawals that were later routed through hawala channels (illegal money transfer system), supported by digital evidence recovered from his mobile device, he added.

Dangariya is accused of facilitating the opening of fraudulent accounts using fake or misrepresented identities, police said.

He also assisted in structuring documentation, including Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-related papers, to prevent transactions from being flagged as suspicious, they said.

On the other hand, Baldha opened new accounts after verification and certification processes as part of the racket, Gurjar informed.

All the three accused are in police custody, while others are in jail under judicial remand, SP said.

So far, police have identified 85 bank accounts linked to the racket with 535 complaints filed on the cyber crime portal.

The total transaction linked to the cyber fraud exceeds Rs 2,500 crore, police said.

The earlier fraud amount was pegged by police at Rs 1,500 crore.