HC extends the interim advance bail granted to comedian Kunal Kamra
Chennai, April 7 (PTI): The Madras High Court on Monday extended till April 17, the interim anticipatory bail granted to comedian Kunal Kamra, who apprehended arrest in connection with his stand up comedy on Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Justice Sunder Mohan also directed the petitioner, Kamra to take steps to approach the concerned courts.
When the case came up for hearing on Monday, V Suresh, Counsel for the petitioner submitted that three more FIRs had been registered against the petitioner in Maharashtra.
The hostility towards the petitioner still continues as the authorities had visited his parental house in Mumbai and disturbed his aged parents. The people who had attended his event were also summoned by the police, Suresh added.
The judge posted to April 17, further hearing of the case.
Twice summoned by the Mumbai police, the 36-year-old stand-up comic's caustic comments on Shinde during his recent show in Mumbai have landed him in trouble and triggered a huge row.
The controversy stems from Kamra's show at the Habitat Comedy Club in Mumbai's Khar, where he performed a parody song targeting Shinde. The act prompted a strong backlash from Shiv Sena supporters, who vandalised the club and the hotel in which it is located.
Kamra was booked by the Khar police on a complaint by Shiv Sena MLA Murji Patel for allegedly making defamatory remarks against the deputy CM.
Moving the HC earlier for anticipatory bail, Kamra had submitted he moved to Tamil Nadu from Mumbai in 2021 and has been "ordinarily a resident of this State since then" and that he feared arrest by Mumbai Police.
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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.
