After Sunil Chhetri's Humble Appeal to Football Fans, All Tickets at Mumbai Stadium Sold Out
Mumbai, June 4: Miraculous change in the minds of football fans in India, tickets to the match between India and Kenya have officially been sold out.
Sunil Chhetri, skipper of the Indian football team, recently made a heartfelt plea to all the fans of Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Cristiano Ronaldo-- "abuse us, criticise us but please come to watch the Indian national team play."
The skipper who scored his third international hat-trick in-front of a near-empty Mumbai Football Arena (MFA) stand asked fans to come to the stadium, even if they want to criticise the Indian football team.
"To all of you, who have lost hope or don't have any hope in Indian football, we request you to come and watch us in the stadium," the skipper said.
This is nothing but a small plea from me to you. Take out a little time and give me a listen. pic.twitter.com/fcOA3qPH8i
— Sunil Chhetri (@chetrisunil11) June 2, 2018
Chhetri also had a request for all the arm-chair critics of Indian football -- please abuse but make the 'Blue Tigers' feel relevant. "I mean it's not fun to criticise and abuse on internet. Come to the stadium, do it on our face, scream at us, shout at us, abuse us, who knows one day we might change you guys, you might start cheering for us. You guys have no idea how important you guys are and how important your support is," the skipper appealed.
Following Chhetri's video, Indian cricketer Virat Kohli took to social media and asked everyone to show support.
In his video message, Virat Kohli said, “In support of what my good friend and Indian captain Sunil Chhetri posted sometime back, I want to request everyone to go and watch Indian football play. Anyone who loves any kind of sport, go and cheer for the team in the stadiums because they are working hard, they are a talented team and I have seen these players evolve and learn over the last few seasons and get so much better at their game.”
Please take notice of my good friend and Indian football skipper @chetrisunil11's post and please make an effort. pic.twitter.com/DpvW6yDq1n
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) June 2, 2018
As the word spread, Indian Internet came to the rescue. Famous YouTubers such as Nikunj Lotia (@BeYouNick) and Prajakta Koli (@mostlysane) came out in support of Chhetri and asked their fans to support the national football team.
In fact, @BeYouNick bought an entire stand and asked football lovers to attend the match free of cost.
Legend ? can I have tickets pls ??? https://t.co/OysLcazVVc
— Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) June 3, 2018
What happened next will bring a smile to your face.The Intercontinental cup match between India and Kenya at the Mumbai Football arena on 4th June has officially sold out.
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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.
