Himachal Pradesh gets first ever Deputy CM
Shimla, Dec 11: Himachal Pradesh got its first ever Deputy Chief Minister on Sunday, when Mukesh Agnihotri was inducted in the cabinet.
Apparently, the move was taken by Congress to accommodate Agnihotri the leader of the opposition in the outgoing assembly who was one of the stronger candidates for the Chief Minister's post.
Since the party came to power in the state earlier in the week, several factions have asserted their claims to the top post.
The party has been quick on its heels to assuage bruised egos and prevent factionalism to threaten the newly-formed government.
However, such dissensions in the party are not new.
In 1967, dissidents threatened to topple the government headed by then chief minister Dr YS Parmar and support a no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition.
Hectic activity was witnessed in the Vidhan Sabha and three senior Congress MLAs Thakur Karam Singh, Pt Padam Dev, and Vidya Dhar were closeted with Chief Minister to prevent them from throwing their lot with the opposition. When the three leaders returned to the house they opposed the no-confidence motion.
As per the bargain, Karam Singh and Pt Padam Dev had then been inducted as cabinet ministers and Vidya Dhar as deputy minister but still no deputy chief minister was appointed.
Again in 1993, when the Congress got 56 out of 68 seats, the party was sharply divided into Virbhadra Singh and Sukh Ram groups, with finally Virbhadra Singh chosen as leader and Anil Sharma, son of Sukh Ram, inducted into cabinet. But again no deputy chief minister was appointed.
In the present government, which would be expanded in the near future, both, the CM and Deputy CM, are from Hamirpur Parliamentary constituency, represented by BJP leader Anurag Thakur, the Union minister for Information and Broadcasting and Sports and Youth Services.
The party has also taken caste factor into consideration going with Sukhu, a Rajput, and Agnihotri, who is a Brahmin.
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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.
