Two women assaulted for 'saying excuse me instead of speaking in Marathi'
Thane, Apr 8 (PTI): Two women, one of them carrying a baby in her arms, were on Tuesday beaten up in Dombivli in the district for allegedly saying "excuse me" instead of speaking in Marathi.
As a video of the incident went viral, police said they were conducting preliminary probe.
The incident took place in the morning when the women, who were on a two-wheeler, were entering the premises of the housing society where they lived.
When the woman who was riding the scooter said "excuse me" to a young man who was obstructing the entrance, he allegedly took offence, demanding that she speak in Marathi, she claimed.
The man, who lives on the ground floor of the same building, allegedly twisted the arm of the pillion rider, they said in a complaint filed at Vishnunagar police station.
Four or five women and two young men from his family gathered and allegedly beat up the two women. Eyewitnesses said they showed no concern for the nine-month-old baby.
'Excuse me' is a common courtesy and the accused's reaction was unwarranted, the complainant said.
Senior inspector Sanjay Pawar of Vishnu Nagar police station told PTI that investigation was underway.
No First Information Report has been registered yet, he said, adding that police were probing if the incident arose from a past dispute.
Workers of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had recently launched an agitation demanding that staff at banks in Maharashtra should speak to customers in Marathi.
The United Forum of Bank Unions wrote to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, stating that people claiming to be MNS activists have been visiting bank branches and intimidating staff. Thackeray later asked his workers to cease the agitation.
Dombivali | इंग्रजीत "ExcuseMe" म्हणणाऱ्या तरुणींना मारहाण, तिघांविरोधात गुन्हा#Dombivali #Crime #MarathiNews pic.twitter.com/ChDQzZqMPY
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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.
