WAM! Bengaluru showcases India’s anime, manga talent; state-level winners head to national finale
Bengaluru: The WAVES Anime and Manga Contest (WAM!) was held at VVN Degree College in Basavanagudi, Bengaluru, bringing together creators, cosplayers, and storytellers from across the country. The event, which served as the final state-level qualifier ahead of the national finale at WAVES 2025, featured participants from diverse age groups and cities including Raipur and Chennai.
Participants as young as nine years old took part in the contest, reflecting the growing interest among Indian youth in creating original anime, manga, and webtoon content. The event also drew working professionals and experienced creators, underlining the wide appeal of the medium.
The jury for the event included Veerendra Patil (Founder, Zebu Animation), Ajay Apparoop (Head of Special Projects, Studio Illuzion), Sushil Bhasin (Chairman and Managing Director, Bhasin Group), and Vishakh Vijayan (ToonSutra). The panel commended the participants for their imagination, technical skills, and storytelling, and observed a strong focus on Indian themes and original world-building.
WAM! Bengaluru also witnessed the launch of the Anime Bengaluru Club, a city-based community for anime and manga enthusiasts. Founder-President Sayantan Ghosh stated that the club would host regular activities such as meetups, anime watch parties, and manga reading circles.
The winners of the contest are as follows:
Manga (Student): Rohit Sharma
Manga (Professional): Mukunda K
Webtoon (Professional): Vishal Maravi
Anime (Professional): Ganesh
Cosplay:
Winner – Puneeth V
Runner-up – Prerana Bagrecha
Second runner-up – Sherone D’Souza
Voice Acting:
Winner – Poonam Tripathi
Runner-up – Sherone D’Souza
Winners at the state level received WACOM pen tablets, Faber-Castell art kits, official TRIO merchandise, cash prizes, and travel support for a five-night stay to participate in the WAM! national finale scheduled from 1 to 4 May 2025. The national winners will be eligible for an all-expense-paid trip to Anime Japan 2026 in Tokyo, where they will represent original Indian content on a global platform.
As part of additional support, winning anime pilots will be dubbed in Hindi, English, and Japanese by Gulmohar Media to facilitate wider distribution. Winning webtoons will be published by Toonsutra to connect with global readers.
Ankur Bhasin, Secretary of the Media and Entertainment Association of India (MEAI), said that WAM! Bengaluru was a showcase of raw talent and creative vision. He noted that Bengaluru continues to serve as a hub for emerging creators and expressed pride in offering them a national platform.
WAM! is India’s first national initiative to promote original intellectual properties in anime, manga, webtoons, and cosplay. It is organised by the Media and Entertainment Association of India and supported by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The contest is part of WAVES – World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit, India’s largest platform for the AVGC-XR industry.
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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.
