Dec 18: 335 new COVID-19 cases, 5 deaths in Karnataka
Bengaluru, Dec 18: Karnataka on Saturday reported 335 new cases of COVID-19 and 5 deaths, taking the total number of infections to 30,02,127 and death toll to 38,287, the health department said.
The day also saw 286 discharges, pushing the total number of recoveries to 29,56,691.
Of the new cases, 225 were from Bengaluru Urban, as the city saw 180 discharges and 1 death.
Total number of active cases in the state is at 7,120.
While the positivity rate for the day stood at 0.28 per cent, case fatality rate (CFR) was at 1.49 per cent.
Of 5 deaths reported on Saturday one each are from Bengaluru Urban, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad and Mysuru.
Apart from Bengaluru Urban, Kodagu accounted for the second highest of 25 new cases, Dakshina Kannada 19 and Mysuru 14.
Bengaluru Urban district now has a total of 12,59,963 positive cases, Mysuru 1,80,133 and Tumakuru 1,21,236.
According to the department bulletin, Bengaluru Urban tops the list among discharges with 12,37,945, followed by Mysuru 1,77,542 and Tumakuru 11,9,974.
Cumulatively a total of 5,52,11,518 samples have been tested in the state so far, of which 1,18,032 were tested on Saturday alone.
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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.
