Jayalalithaa's jewels to be handed over to TN govt in first week of March, says Karnataka court
Bengaluru (PTI): A special court here has said 27 kg of gold and diamond jewelry - part of the material evidence in the disproportionate assets case against former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister late J Jayalalithaa and others - would be handed over to the neighbouring state's government on March 6 and 7, paving the way for unlocking value of the assets to mobilise the Rs 100 crore fine imposed on her. While 20 kg could be sold or auctioned, the remaining was exempted by the Court on Monday considering the fact that the late Jayalalithaa inherited them from her mother.
Judge H A Mohan, presiding over the XXXII Additional City Civil & Sessions court, had last month directed the transfer of valuables seized from Jayalalithaa to the Tamil Nadu government.
The TN Government will then take necessary action on the disposal of these gold and diamond jewelery, it had said.
The trial was held in Karnataka on the direction of the Supreme Court and therefore all material evidence is in the Karnataka treasury now under the custody of the court.
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The court had earlier held that the kin of Jayalalithaa were not entitled for the properties which are confiscated by the State. The Special CBI Court had thus rejected the petition filed by J Deepa and J Deepak, the niece and nephew of Jayalalithaa, respectively.
Ordering the transfer of the jewels to the Tamil Nadu Government, the Special Court judge had said, "Instead of auctioning the jewels, it is better to transfer the same to Tamil Nadu by handing over the same through the Department of Home, State of Tamil Nadu."
The Court had then issued the direction that the Tamil Nadu Home Department to authorise "competent persons preferably in the rank of Secretary along with police to come and collect the jewels."
In the same order, the Special Court had ordered the payment of Rs five crore to Karnataka for the expenses of the trial conducted in the State. The payment will be made from a fixed deposit in an account related to Jayalalithaa in the State Bank of India branch in Chennai.
The disproportionate assets trial against Jayalalithaa, her former close aide V Sasikala, V N Sudhakaran, who is the disowned foster son of Jayalalithaa, and Sasikala's sister-in-law J Ilavarasi was conducted by the Special Court in Bengaluru, which convicted them nearly ten years ago.
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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.
