Winter session of Legislature at Belagavi in December
Bengaluru, Oct 25: The Karnataka cabinet Thursday decided to convene the winter session of the state Legislature In December at Belagavi.
Briefing reporters after a cabinet meeting, Cooperation minister Bandeppa Kashempur said the dates for the session were yet to be finalised and that the Chief Minister has been authorised to take a decision on it
He said the session was likely to be for 10 days.
This will be the first assembly session for the H.D Kumaraswamy led Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Belagavi after coming to power in the state.
Belagavi in north Karnataka has been hosting legislature session once a year since 2006 when the move was initiated by the JD(S)-BJP coalition government, with Kumaraswamy as its chief Minister.
This was followed by construction of Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, modelled on the Vidhana Soudha,the state secretariat, by the BJP government as an assertion that Belagavi is an integral part of Karnataka.
Maharashtra claims Belagavi should belong to it.
The Cabinet Thursday also given administrative approval for construction of a fishing harboUr at Kulai in Dakshina Kannada district at a cost of Rs 196.51 crore.
The Union Ministry of Shipping will have 50 per cent share- Rs 98.255 crore, New Mangalore Port Trust 45 per cent share- Rs 88.43 crore, and government of Karnataka 5 per cent share- Rs 9.8 crore.
The meeting also approved the formation of a separate Hubli-Dharwad city transport service,for which Rs 35 crore has been initially sanctioned.
Among other decisions taken where to provide representation to women members in the state Backward Classes' commission, administrative approval to set up a 450 bed hospital in Hassan at a cost of Rs 141.2 crore and setting up a geographical information system based property information system for urban local bodies.
Approval of Rs 17.50 crore was given to set up 250 anganwadis in urban areas.
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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.
