Delhi excise policy case: ED summons Telangana CM's daughter K Kavitha
New Delhi (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's daughter K Kavitha in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy, officials said on Wednesday.
Kavitha, 44, a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party MLC, has been asked to depose on March 9 before the federal agency in the national capital.
She has been called so that she can be confronted with Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai, an alleged frontman of the 'south group', who was arrested by the ED on Monday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier said that Pillai "represented the south group", an alleged liquor cartel linked to Kavitha and others.
The 'south group, according to the agency, "comprises" Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Pharma), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (YSR Congress MP from Ongole Lok Sabha seat), Kavitha and others.
Kavitha had said she would be in Delhi for holding a one-day hunger strike at the Jantar Mantar on March 10 to seek the introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill in the upcoming session of Parliament.
The BRS leader has been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in this case earlier.
It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers, who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) here.
The policy was later scrapped and the Delhi Lt Governor had recommended a CBI probe following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
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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.
