8 held for gambling in Manimajra, 64,000 recovered
They have been identified as Mehboob, Sahil, Askar Ali, Safdar, Abdul Vahid, and Kuldeep Kumar — all residents of Manimajra; Sonu of Nayagaon; and Satpal from Jujhar Nagar village in Mohali.
They were later granted bail.
Charges under Gambling Act have been brought against them. Investigation is under way.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
33 minutes ago
- Hans India
Formula-E Race Deal… ACB quizzes Arvind Kumar on KTR's role in transfer of funds
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) today subjected IAS officer Arvind Kumar to a rigorous six-hour interrogation in connection with the ongoing Formula E-race case. This marks the third time the former Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) official has been summoned by the probing agency regarding alleged financial irregularities in the Formula E-Race deal. ACB officials reportedly questioned Mr Kumar extensively on the role of former MA&UD minister KT Rama Rao in the transfer of funds to the Formula E-race company without obtaining due government approval. Sources indicate that the IAS officer arrived at the ACB headquarters at 11:40 AM and departed around 5:15 PM, with the questioning session punctuated by a 30-minute lunch break and two tea breaks. Mr Kumar was reportedly pressed on allegations raised by complainant Principal Secretary M Dana Kishore, particularly concerning his involvement in transferring funds overseas. The ACB registered a First Information Report (FIR) against KTR on 19 December last year. The FIR also named Aravind Kumar, then Special Chief Secretary to Government, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department, and B L N Reddy, then Chief Engineer of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). The complainant alleges that the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) made payments exceeding Rs 54.88 crore to Formula-E Operations Limited (FEO) and associated entities, bypassing standard financial protocols. According to the FIR, Rs 45.7 crore was transferred to FEO between September and October 2023, despite FEO having already terminated its agreement with the Telangana government. This payment reportedly incurred an additional tax burden of Rs 8.06 crore, which was absorbed by the HMDA. A tripartite agreement signed in October 2022 between the Telangana government, FEO, and event sponsor Ace Nxt Gen Pvt Ltd had initially limited the State government's financial responsibility. However, the FIR claims that disputes between FEO and Ace Nxt Gen Pvt Ltd led to the government assuming financial liability without necessary regulatory approvals, thereby causing significant losses to the exchequer.
Indian Express
34 minutes ago
- Indian Express
The scammer's trail
There has been a sharp increase in 'digital arrest' scams in India. As per data from the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, the reported digital arrest scams and related cybercrimes have more than tripled, rising from 39,925 in 2022 to 1.23 lakh in 2024, with the defrauded amount growing from Rs 91.14 crore to Rs 1,935 crore. Such scams tend to involve fraudsters impersonating law enforcement officials such as the police, the CBI and the Income Tax Department in order to dupe people. The victims, who are from a cross-section of society, including industrialists, private sector professionals, and senior citizens, are ensnared through fake interrogations on video calls. An investigation in this paper has carefully documented several instances where people have been duped of lakhs and crores of rupees. The reports in this paper show how money is transferred from the victims to mule accounts that are used by scammers, and then in some cases to other accounts across the country. In one instance, a staggering sum of nearly Rs 6 crore was transferred over many bank accounts in a matter of a few minutes. In another case, there are indications of the stolen funds being used to buy cryptocurrency. Recoveries have been few and far between. In most cases, the bulk of the amount is withdrawn in cash from the mule accounts. In one case reported in this paper, a retired IAF veteran, who was defrauded of Rs 1.59 crore, has till now got back only Rs 16.1 lakh. In another case, the victim, a former deputy nursing superintendent, who had lost Rs 83 lakh of her pension and savings, has not recovered anything. The authorities and banks have taken steps to spread awareness and monitor suspicious activities. On October 27, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Mann Ki Baat, warned people against digital arrests. 'Beware of digital arrest frauds. There is no system like digital arrest under the law,' he said. The Reserve Bank of India has also cautioned against digital arrest scams. Banks have launched awareness campaigns to educate the public regarding the nature of the scams. These efforts need to be ramped up urgently. Governments, banks and the central bank must continue to spread awareness about such scams and educate the public about the modus operandi of the fraudsters. Banks must further tighten the KYC process — as per a report in this paper, the addresses of the mule accounts were 'fictitious' in a number of cases. Accounts with large suspicious transactions — for instance, there were 1,960 transactions in one account on one day — need to be flagged immediately and appropriate action taken. Such cases should also be investigated more swiftly.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
From Delhi's Majnu ka Tila, ‘herb trader' turned out to be international tiger trafficker on Interpol radar
On paper, Tashi Sherpa, 46, was a trader of herbs in Delhi's Majnu ka Tila, a Tibetan refugee colony in New Delhi. The Interpol, however, believes Sherpa was a 'well-known international tiger trafficker and a key operative' in an organised criminal syndicate, 'trafficking tigers between India, Bhutan, Nepal and China'. On January 24 last year, Sherpa, who had been absconding for the last eight years, was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Police's Special Tiger Strike Force near Darjeeling, close to the India-Nepal border. Last month, Chief Judicial Magistrate Feroze Akhtar sentenced Sherpa to imprisonment for five years. He is currently lodged in the Hosangabad district jail. David Caunter, Director of Interpol's Organised and Emerging Crime, has now reached out to the Madhya Pradesh government, seeking 'financial records, business details and interrogation records' of Sherpa. Caunter also offered Interpol's support to investigate the broader criminal network linked to Sherpa. The investigation carried out by the Special Tiger Strike Force has revealed that Sherpa was a crucial international link in a wildlife trafficking network that systematically targeted tigers and pangolins and trafficked their parts into Chinese markets. Court documents reveal that Sherpa's trafficking ring was spread across parts of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Sikkim, Nepal and China. According to court documents, the network first came on the police radar on July 13, 2015, when 'Maniram and Gannu, mahouts patrolling on elephants, spotted 10 individuals' in the Karimat area of the Satpura Tiger Reserve. The mahouts chased the group on elephants, but they allegedly fled. The abandoned campsite yielded a crucial piece of evidence: three pangolin skulls in a bag. Ten arrests followed on August 21, 2015, triggering confessions that mapped the spread of the network. Court documents show that two of the accused, Shrivas and Sakharam, allegedly admitted in February 2015 that they hunted a tiger, about 1-1.5 years old, near Gendi Nala in the Churna Range, close to the village of Sankai in Hoshangabad by poisoning a cow carcass with pesticide. They allegedly sold the tiger's skin and bones, besides some pangolin scales, to Farukh Miyan from Shahpur. The call detail records of the accused led the investigators to J E Tamang and his partner Lachungpa Yangchen, who, according to the Tiger Strike Force, are 'international traders of wildlife parts and leaders of a large racket'. Bank records of the two revealed 'significant transactions' of over Rs 65 lakh in a space of 6-7 months. It was Tamang's arrest on October 29, 2015 that allegedly exposed Sherpa's central role in the operation. Tamang told the investigators that his while his business involved selling herbs, 'he also illegally bought and sold tiger skins, bones, pangolin scales, and red sandalwood'. Tamang said he was shown tiger bones when he visited a mutton shop owned by Sheikh Yunus in Itarsi district of Madhya Pradesh. A deal was struck, Tamang paid Yunus an advance of Rs 20,000 and instructed him to deliver 'the goods to New Delhi'. Court records detail how, about 10-15 days later, Yunus arrived in New Delhi, allegedly carrying a bag with 12 kg of tiger bones and 9 kg of pangolin scales. This is when Sherpa comes into the picture. In Delhi, Sherpa allegedly purchased the tiger bones from Yunus at Rs 12,000 a kg and the pangolin scales at Rs 7,000 a kg. Court documents record that 'Sheikh Yunus returned to New Delhi in February 2015 with another large bag containing approximately 14 kg of tiger bones and 19 kg of pangolin scales.' This second transaction was at a higher price. 'This time, he (Yunus) sold the tiger bones at Rs 14,000 per kilogram and the pangolin scales at Rs 8,000 per kilogram, earning a profit of Rs 1,500 per kilogram on tiger bones and Rs 500 per kilogram on pangolin scales…' Tamang, out on bail in a separate case, has been absconding, with an Interpol Red Corner Notice against him. His partner Yangchen, who was arrested on September 15, 2017, allegedly told the investigators that between March and July 2022, Tamang travelled to Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and to Gadchiroli in Maharashtra in February 2023 to expand their network. All along, they allegedly stayed in touch with Sherpa. Ritesh Sirothia, who heads the MP State Tiger Strike Force, told The Indian Express, 'Sherpa set up one of the biggest wildlife parts smuggling operation in the country. He began his operations in 2010 and built his network in Madhya Pradesh, UP, Delhi, Sikkim, Nepal and China. He was operating this network from Majnu Ka Tila, selling tiger and pangolin parts. We have arrested 30 people in this case and his was the 29th arrest.' The case ultimately involved 36 accused, with prosecution records showing that '29 have been arrested, and complaints have been filed against them'. Statistics presented to the court in the aftermath of the case are stark. The prosecution has told the court that 308 cases of wildlife poaching were 'recorded in Narmadapuram alone and 171 cases of tiger poaching in Madhya Pradesh. Currently, only 785 tigers remain in Madhya Pradesh due to illegal poaching.'
