After Modi, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav meets Dawoodi Bohra community leader
Mumbai, Feb 14: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who heads a faction of the Shiv Sena, on Tuesday called on Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, the religious head of Dawoodi Bohras, in Mumbai, three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated an education centre of the minority community here.
During the meeting, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) president conveyed his congratulations to the Syedna on the opening of the new campus in Marol in suburban Andheri.
"Uddhav Thackeray today (Tuesday) visited the Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah Arabic Academy in Marol to meet with Dawoodi Bohra leader His Holiness Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin and convey congratulations on the opening of the new campus," a functionary of the community said.
The meeting is being seen as Thackeray's outreach to the influential community which has several thousands members in Mumbai.
Prime Minister Modi, who met Syedna Saifuddin during his visit to Mumbai last Friday, recalled his decades-old bond with the Dawoodi Bohra community.
"I am here as a family member, not as Prime Minister," Modi had said after inaugurating the fourth campus of the Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah, the foremost educational institute of the Dawoodi Bohra community.
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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.
