Man calls police about bomb threat at Mumbai airport after quarrel with wife; detained for hoax call
Mumbai, May 27 (PTI): A 35-year-old man was apprehended on Tuesday for making a hoax call to the Mumbai police's control room about a bomb threat at the international airport here, officials said.
The accused, Manjeet Kumar Gautam who is a resident of Sakinaka in Andheri East, told the investigators that he made the hoax call out of frustration following an argument with his wife, they said.
"Gautam called the main control room of the city police around 9 am on Tuesday, and told them that there would be a blast at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSIMA) around 2 pm," an official said.
The control room staff immediately informed the senior authorities and a probe was launched, he said.
"The police teams then traced the call to the Andheri MIDC area, following which teams from the MIDC and Sahar police stations apprehended Gautam," he said.
Gautam, a tailor by profession, was brought to the police station and a notice under section 168 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) was issued to him, the official said, adding that further preventive action was being taken against him.
Gautam made the call to the police control room as he was frustrated after a heated argument with his wife, the official said.
A non-cognisable case was registered against Gautam at the Azad Maidan police station, and further investigation into the case is underway, he said.
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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.
