Karnataka's Dhaneshwari likely to take Hima's place in Indian 4x100m relay team
Patiala: Injured Hima Das' place in the women's 100m relay final on Tuesday is likely to be taken by Karnataka's AT Dhaneshwari as the Indian quartet makes a final bid for Olympics qualification during the ongoing National Inter-State Championships here.
Dhaneshwari had finished fifth in the 100m dash, won by S Dhanalakshmi of Tamil Nadu on Saturday, with a time of 11.71 seconds.
The other members of the quartet will be national record holder Dutee Chand, Dhanalkshmi and Archana Suseendran. Dutee had finished fourth and Archana third in the final on Saturday.
Hima sustained a hamstring injury while running the 100m heats on Saturday and is unlikely to take further part in the championships, unless she makes a dramatic recovery in the next 48 hours.
She is, however, listed among eight finalists for the 200m race to be run on Tuesday. The heat races for the 200m were not held on Sunday after Dutee, Dhanalakshmi and Archana pulled out.
The Athletics Federation of India said direct final will be held on Tuesday.
The absence of Dhanalakshmi and Archana could be to give them enough time to rest, while Dutee is recovering from a minor muscle tightness.
Dutee, who finished fourth in the 100m dash won by Dhanalakshmi, was seen having some discomfort after crossing the finishing line on Saturday.
"It is a minor issue, jut tightness in glutes (muscles of buttocks). She is is not running 200m but will run 4x100m relay," Dutee's coach N Ramesh said.
Dutee is expected to make it to Tokyo Games 100m sprint on the basis of world rankings though she could not breach the qualifying standard of 11.15 seconds. She is currently sitting pretty at 41st place in the Road to Tokyo list as 56 competitors will run in the event.
She had clocked 11.17 seconds to better her own national record during the Indian Grand Prix 4 earlier this month.
For the women's 4x100m relay, the Indian quartet will have to clock below 43.04 seconds to have any chances of qualifying for the Olympics, which opens on July 23.
The women's 4x100m relay final is also scheduled for Tuesday.
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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.
