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Hindustan Times
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Heads set to roll in culture dept for manipulating bills of artistes
Authorities and employees of the culture department, as well as outsourced staff hired for arranging state government events, have come under the police scanner after the UP Special Task Force (STF) arrested a Kanpur-based event manager on Friday for manipulating bills related to payments made to artistes of these events. The STF officials confirmed that the event manager, Neel Vijay Singh, manipulated bills by forging signatures of the artistes in connivance with some officers of the culture department. They said the accused specifically mentioned the name of an additional director rank official of the department involved in the racket. A senior police official said that Singh will be further taken on police remand to interrogate him about other people involved in this fraud. He said the revelation made by Singh could expose the entire nexus of event managers, officials and employees of the culture department. 'We will also investigate different cultural events organised by the state government in the recent past. The list of artistes roped in for the events will be sought from the culture department to cross check payments made to them and what bill was approved,' a police official privy to the development said. In a press note shared with the media, the STF officials stated that the investigation into the matter was initiated after receiving a complaint from a woman artiste accusing the event manager of manipulating bills made in her name and by forging her signatures. The event manager was arrested for his direct involvement in manipulating bills of artistes after registering an FIR under appropriate sections of Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita at Gomti Nagar police station. It stated the connivance of culture department officials is yet to be established and further investigation in the case is on. In the FIR, the woman alleged that she participated in Bharat-Nepal Maitri Mahotsav (Indo-Nepal Friendship Festival) organised in Bahraich in 2024. He said the event manager hired the artist to sing for ₹35,000, but paid her ₹30,000, while asking for a cancelled cheque to give the pending amount. The singer mentioned that she received an amount of ₹2,41,000 in her bank account after giving the cancelled cheque to the event manager. The event manager threatened the artiste with dire consequences after she objected to transferring the amount to the event manager stating that it has come from the state government treasury and she will have to pay it back if the government demands the money back.
Hindustan Times
18-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Another ghost SIM card racket exposed; POS agent held in Sitapur
While backtracking sources of pre-activated SIM cards, the state police have exposed another nexus of POS (point of sales) agents in Sitapur supplying SIM cards to criminals and terror operatives. On Thursday night, UP Special Task Force exposed a major nexus comprising telecom company employees and distributors involved in supplying over 10,000 SIM cards activated through unauthorised means to cyber criminals in Chitrakoot. Six people, including two territory sales executives of a prominent telecom firm, were arrested. In the Sitapur case, UP Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) on Friday carried out extensive searches to arrest POS agent Sant Ram, who allegedly sold 14 SIM cards that were issued on forged Aadhaar cards to terror operatives in 2022. The Sitapur police confirmed that the accused managed to escape but was later caught from Dhairacha Bazaar near the highway on Saturday morning. On Thursday, UP ATS inspector Arvind Kumar Pandey had lodged an FIR against Sant Ram, who ran a SIM card shop in Dhairacha Bazar under old Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 for cheating, 467 for forgery of valuable securities, 468 for forgery of document and 471 for using as genuine a forged document to issue SIM cards. According to the FIR, Sant Ram used the photograph of his ex-wife Shalu to prepare forged Aadhaar cards and issued SIM cards to criminal elements at higher prices after activating them. A senior ATS official said initial investigation revealed that Sant Ram sold 14 SIM cards to criminal and terror elements. The official confirmed that the SIM cards supplied to criminal and terror elements in Chitrakoot and Sitapur were from the same telecom company. 'We will issue notice to the telecom company and probe the role of its employees in promoting such illegal sale of SIM cards to achieve their targets and smaller monetary benefits,' he added. The STF officials said CBI, which has launched a nationwide crackdown to curb cybercrimes, has also carried out simultaneous raids in several districts of UP. Hathras ASP CN Sinha had confirmed that the CBI carried out raids at multiple places in Hathras to arrest preactivated SIM cards' suppliers on Friday.
Hindustan Times
10-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Illegal arms unit busted in Etah, three held with 16 pistols
A joint team of the UP Special Task Force (STF) and local police busted an illegal arms manufacturing unit being run under the cover of a lock-making business in Etah district on Friday evening. Three men were arrested, and 16 country-made pistols, along with cartridges and firearm-making tools, were recovered from a rented house in Nagla Chandan locality under Kotwali Nagar police station, additional superintendent of police (SP) Abdul Qadir said on Saturday. The raid was conducted around 6:45 pm on Friday following specific intelligence inputs, according to a press statement issued by the UP STF. The accused — Seenu and Meenu, both sons of Bholu alias Bhole of Bankner village in Kasganj district, and their uncle Morsingh Yadav, a resident of Shanti Vihar in Bareilly — were apprehended from the spot. They were allegedly found displaying illegal firearms at the time of the raid. '16 country-made pistols of .315 and .32 bore, two live and two empty cartridges of .315 bore, one live cartridge of .32 bore, one empty cartridge of 12 bore, along with firearm-making equipment and an auto used for transporting weapons, have been recovered,' the officials said. During interrogation, Seenu and Meenu reportedly told police that they had rented the premises, pretending to operate a lock-manufacturing unit. In reality, they were running a workshop producing country-made pistols, which were later sold in Etah, Bareilly, and nearby districts. Morsingh Yadav, their uncle, is said to have played the role of buyer and distributor. He was present to collect a fresh batch of pistols when the STF raided the site. Officials said the raid was part of a wider operation targeting illegal arms factories operating across western UP. An FIR has been lodged under sections 3, 5, and 25 of the Arms Act at the Kotwali Nagar police station. Police are investigating the network and trying to identify other buyers linked to the weapons supply chain.
Time of India
22-04-2025
- Time of India
On the run for 26 years, murder accused held in Siddharthnagar
Lucknow: UP Special Task Force (STF) on Monday arrested a murder accused, who was on the run for over 26 years, from his house in Siddharthnagar. The accused, Vinod Kumar, was wanted in a 1999 murder case registered at Bhiwandi City police station in Thane district, Maharashtra. Vinod Kumar of Parsaha Etim village in Siddharthnagar was arrested from his house around 3:10pm on Monday. According to the Maharashtra Police , Vinod along with his accomplices Raju Mehta and Kamlesh, abducted one Jigar Mahendra Mehta—owner of a cloth factory-- on May 28, 1999. "The trio then made a ransom call to his family, demanding Rs 10 lakh. When the demand was not fulfilled, Vinod allegedly administered a sedative injection to Jigar and then slit his throat. The accused also looted the victim's belongings and dumped his body in a pipeline," said the STF. Following the murder, Vinod fled Mumbai and stayed with relatives in Delhi and in villages near his hometown. Believing the case went cold, he recently began a medical store near his village. The arrest was made following a tip-off by the Maharashtra Police. The STF field unit under the supervision of Dy SP Dharmesh Kumar Shahi was led by inspector Satyaprakash Singh of STF Gorakhpur. After his arrest, Vinod was produced at Bhawaniganj police station. Maharashtra Police are conducting further legal proceedings, including securing a transit remand for his transfer to Bhiwandi City, Thane for probe and
