New Zealand is World's first ever ICC Test Champions; defeats India by 8 wickets in WTC Final
Southampton, Jun 23: A tenacious New Zealand lifted the inaugural World Test Championship title with a comfortable eight-wicket win over India on the sixth and final day of the marquee final here on Wednesday.
It is first major ICC trophy for the Black Caps, who had ended runners-up at the 2019 ODI World Cup after losing the final to hosts England on boundary count. They had also lost the 2015 World Cup final to Australia.
The seasoned pair of skipper Kane Williamson (52) and Ross Taylor (47) took New Zealand past the finish line with their unbeaten 96-run partnership as they overhauled the 139-run target without much fuss.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed openers Tom Latham (9) and Devon Conway (19) but the Indians did not have any success after that as the fielders dropped two catches.
India resumed the day at 64 for two but none of the batsmen could play a solid innings and they were all out for 170. Rishabh Pant was top-scorer for them with his 41-run knock.
Brief Scores:
India: 217 and 170 all out in 73 overs. (Rishabh Pant 41, Rohit Sharma 30; Tim Southee 4/48, Trent Boult 3/39, Kyle Jamieson 2/30).
New Zealand: 249 and 140 for 2 in 45.5 overs. (K Williamson 52 not out, R Taylor 47 not out; R Ashwin 2/17).
NEW ZEALAND ARE THE INAUGURAL ICC WORLD TEST CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS ?#WTC21 Final | #INDvNZ | @BLACKCAPS pic.twitter.com/HMIaYI32Az
— ICC (@ICC) June 23, 2021
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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.
