Delhi-based businessman behind Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair's arrest: Police
New Delhi, Aug 31: The Twitter user behind the arrest of fact checker and Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair is a 36-year-old Delhi-based real estate businessman who originally belongs to Ajmer in Rajasthan, police said on Wednesday.
Police officials, who have been working to establish the identity of the Twitter handle @balajikijaiin operating under the name Hanuman Bhakt, did not disclose the businessman's name.
They said there is no evidence of his affiliation with a political party.
"The investigation has revealed that the anonymous Twitter handle was operated by a 36-year-old real estate businessman who originally hails from Ajmer in Rajasthan and presently lives in Dwarka," a police official privy to the probe said. Police tracked him following a response from Twitter using an IP address and he was sent a formal notice to join the probe, the official added. The businessman said in his statement to the police that his religious sentiments were hurt.
The official did not share details of when the notice was sent and the statement recorded.
Zubair was arrested on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through a tweet against a Hindu deity in 2018. He was in custody for 24 days on allegations of hate speech and is now out on bail.
According to police officials, the businessman took note of the 2018 post and tweeted, tagging Delhi Police and urging it to take action because his "religious sentiments" were hurt.
A complaint was subsequently filed, leading to the arrest.
Two days after Zubair's arrest, the businessman deleted his Twitter account only to reactivate it the next day with the same name and handle.
The account now stands suspended.
The businessman had moved from Ajmer to Delhi some years ago with his family, police said.
Multiple FIRs were lodged against Zubair in Uttar Pradesh -- two in Hathras and one each in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad and Chandauli -- for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
He was released on bail after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail, saying the "exercise of the power of arrest must be pursued sparingly".
Cases under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code have been registered against him, including criminal conspiracy (Sections 120B), promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, language, etc (Section 153A) and deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings (Section 295A).
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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.
