Vintage gold coins stolen from Gujarat home: One more person held from MP
Navsari, Jan 4: Days after four labourers were arrested from Madhya Pradesh in connection with theft of vintage gold coins from a house they were hired to demolish in Navsari in Gujarat, one more person has been held from the neighbouring state, a police official said on Thursday.
The official said 41 gold coins worth Rs 19 lakh have been recovered from the person held from Alirajpur in MP on Wednesday, he said.
On December 26, Navsari district police had arrested four labourers from Alirajpur with 199 gold coins which they had allegedly stolen from a house they were demolishing instead of apprising authorities.
The coins have the image of King George V engraved on them and the house, on Bazaar Street, belongs to NRI Hawaben Balia, who currently resides in Leicester in the United Kingdom, said Navsari Superintendent of Police Sushil Agarwal.
"During interrogation of the arrested accused, it was revealed one Mukesh Bhayadia had kept 30 coins with himself. Moreover, a minor was also in possession of 11 stolen coins. These 41 gold coins were mortgaged for Rs 5.81 lakh by the accused," said Aagrwal.
"Our team arrested Mukesh Bhayadia from Alirajpur and have recovered 41 coins worth Rs 19 lakh from a local jeweller who had given a loan of Rs 5.81 lakh to the accused against these coins. We have so far recovered 240 gold coins worth Rs 1.11 crore," said the SP.
The probe began after an FIR was lodged by Navsari police in October on the complaint of house owner Balia against contractor Sarfaraz Karadiya, who was hired to raze the house, and four labourers hailing from Alirajpur. Karadiya and the four labourers were arrested in December.
These five accused were charged under Indian Penal Code sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 114 (abettor present at spot when offence is committed), the SP had said on January 1, adding they have confessed to stealing the coins while pulling down the structure.
Four policemen from Madhya Pradesh were also arrested after an FIR was lodged at Sondba police station in Alirajpur on the complaint of one of the arrested labourers who claimed they had looted some of the gold coins.
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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.
