Udupi: Vinay Kumar Sorake, former minister and Congress candidate from Kapu for the forthcoming Assembly elections, has alleged that Annamalai, who is joint in-charge of Karnataka for the BJP, carried a bundle of notes with him while arriving in Kapu by helicopter for campaigning on Monday.

The Udupi deputy commissioner has been informed of the matter, Sorake added.

Speaking during the release of the party manifesto at the Congress Bhavan in Udupi on Monday, he said, “The BJP won the 2018 election by spreading false information, but a lie does not work always. The voters of Udupi are well-informed about all matters. If secularism should survive in India, the Congress should be brought to power.”

The Congress candidate from Udupi Prasad Raj Kanchan filed his nomination papers on the occasion.

Kanchan said, “The upcoming elections are a major challenge for the Congress, which has contributed a lot for the progress of Udupi.”

Congress Udupi District President Ashok Kumar Kodavar, Udupi Block President Ramesh Kanchan, KPCC General Secretary MA Gafoor, Dinakar Herur, Annayya Sherigar, Geetha Wagle, Veronica Cornelio, Prakhyat Shetty and Nithyananda Shetty were among those present on the occasion.

Also read: BJP respected Jagadish Shettar; Congress will ‘use-and-throw’ him: CM Bommai

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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.