Mumbai: Man kills mother-in-law by setting her on fire, dies himself due to burns
Mumbai (PTI): A 56-year-old man allegedly killed his mother-in-law here by setting her on fire inside a tempo and died himself due to the burn injuries suffered during the incident, police said on Wednesday.
A case of murder was registered against the deceased man, Krishna Daji Ashtankar following the incident which took place in Mulund area on Monday, said an official of Navaghar police station.
Babi Daji Usare, his mother-in-law, was 72.
Ashtankar, a tempo driver, was living in his vehicle after his wife left him six months ago to stay with a patient in Borivali as a caretaker. His son and married daughter too lived elsewhere, said the official.
As per the preliminary investigation, Ashtankar, who struggled with alcohol addiction, was angry because he had to live alone, and suspected that his mother-in-law encouraged his wife to live apart.
As per the victim woman's son, Ashtankar offered to take her to hospital in his tempo on Monday for an eye surgery she needed. He then apparently closed the tempo's rear shutter and beat the hapless woman with a heavy object before setting her on fire. But he too was engulfed in flames inside the small space, and sustained fatal injuries.
Some passersby alerted the police who reached the spot along with a fire brigade team.
The shutter was broken down, and both were taken to hospital where the doctors declared them dead on arrival.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
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.
