Lucknow, Dec 20: Seven people who formed a red sandalwood smuggling gang taking inspiration from Allu Arjun movie 'Pushpa' were arrested from Mathura, sources from the Special Task Force (STF) said here on Tuesday.

Deepak alias Dalveer, Ajit Kumar Yadav, Sumit alias Ram, Chandra Pratap alias Babbu, Sumit Das, Jitendra, and Ranjit were arrested on a tip off from Highway Police Station on Monday, an STF release issued here said.

In the operation conducted jointly with a Forest department team, 563 kg red sandalwood worth about Rs 2 crore was recovered from them, they said.

The accused were in Mathura to sell the sandalwood, it said.

According to the STF, the accused confessed they took inspiration from 'Pushpa: The rise' and decided on making a quick buck stealing the expensive wood.

The gang kept the wood with one Rana, a resident of Delhi, who has a timber chamber licence.

They brought the red sandalwood illegally from Andhra Pradesh and sold it at religious places and nearby areas of Mathura, STF said.

An FIR has been registered against the seven men at Highway Police Station under relevant sections of IPC and other acts.

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New Delhi (PTI): Cases of cyber crime in the national capital nearly doubled in 2022, according to the latest report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The number of such cases rose from 345 in 2021 to to 685 cases in 2022, NCRB's comprehensive crime data for 2022 showed.

In 2020, the count was much lower with only 166 cyber crime cases, it added.

A senior official of Delhi Police said, "We are continuously working to promote cyber awareness and several campaigns are being carried out from time to time."