Seven workers have died and several more are feared trapped in a coal mine that collapsed late evening on Thursday in the Lal Matia colliery of Godda district in Jharkhand, reports said.
While initial reports put the number of trapped at around 10, a CISF official told ANI that around 40-50 workers are suspected to be trapped inside the debris along with 40 vehicles of a private company operating at the site.
IANS said that a heap of mud caved-in at the entry point of the colliery. Rescue operation could not begin due to night fog, the police said.
The incident, a government of India release said, took place at 7.30 pm on Thursday and that a control room has been set up at project office of Rajmahal Open Cast Expansion Project.
However, the exact number of people and vehicle trapped inside is not known. “This could only become clear after the rescue operation starts,” said Harilal Chauhan, Godda Superintendent of Police, earlier.
The locals said that there was a crack in the heap of mud which collapsed and blocked the entry point of the mine.
Mining operations were taking place about 200 feet beneath the ground. Though the cause of the accident is not known, the Ministry of Coal said that “prima facie…it could have been caused by a failure of the bench edge along the hidden fault line/slip”.
Police said that rescue operation is underway and that an NDRF team from Patna is already on its way to the site of the accident. It is expected to reach by noon, IANS said.
Meanwhile, according to The Indian Express, Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das directed the DGP and chief secretary to initiate relief and rescue operations at the earliest. “As of now, there are different versions of how many machines, vehicles and people are trapped. Relief and rescue operations are being initiated,” a police official told the newspaper.
Prime Minister Naredra Modi reportedly spoke with Das who announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakhs to the dead and Rs 25,000 to those injured in the accident. Das also tweeted saying:
Meanwhile, Ministry of Coal said that an Inquiry has been ordered in the incident by the director general of mines safety and CIL has constituted a high-level committee of experts to investigate into the causes of the accident. THE ECL also announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakhs each to the family of the deceased.
Some of the injured are being treated in a nearby hospital, ANI tweeted.
Mine roof collapses in Dhanbad
In another incident, four workers suffered injuries, two of them seriously, when the roof of a mine partially collapsed at Putki Balihari area in Dhanbad district on Friday, PTI reported. The mine falls under Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited.
A senior district official said the four contractual workers were taking cable to a shaft of the hydro mines in lift when a part of the roof suddenly caved in trapping them.
The four were rescued and taken to a hospital where the condition of two of them was stated to be serious, the official said.
While the cause of the collapse in the Dhanbad mine is being looked into, more details are awaited of the mine collapse in Godda district.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) that made a humble beginning in 1969 with a small strength of 3,129 men, has witnessed an exponential growth in terms of strength, portfolio and revenue earning. Today, with the latest sanctioned strength of 1.8 lakh armed personnel and 12 battalions, the CISF will be the world’s third largest aviation security expert by 2020. The only security force that earns its own salary, CISF has been aiming to be the largest player in the aviation security market by 2030.
On various aspects of the security force that guards the economic installations of the country, the CISF’s director-general, OP Singh, a 1983 batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre spoke to Firstpost in an exclusive interview. Edited excerpts follow:
Prior to your appointment as CISF chief, you had been the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) chief and had stints in the CRPF and Special Protection Group (SPG). What challenges do you perceive as director-general of CISF?
I have worked with the CISF earlier and was in charge of 59 airports in the country. But it was only for a year. Working in the paramilitary forces is a challenging task and each (unit) has its own different way of performing its duty and dealing with crises and humanitarian work. CISF was created to secure the industrial environment. After the 1956 industrial policy, the country witnessed the emergence of large public sector undertakings (PSUs) and lots of industries. Following economic liberalisation and globalisation, there was a surge in the industrial sector and security of this sector became paramount. It emerged as a futuristic force, where the need was to secure the most sensitive installations and also those sectors like airports, seaports, Metro rail etc that have a direct impact on our economy. Our role is to protect all these vital economic installations in government, public and private sectors. We’re even protecting heritage sites.
How challenging is it for CISF to secure airports, especially after the Kandahar incident in which IA flight IC-814 was hijacked in 1999?
After the hijacking incident, the government decided to revamp airport security system in a big way, when the need was felt to give the responsibility of securing airports to a professional, dedicated and strong force. CISF was assigned the job and we were given the responsibility of Jaipur airport in 2000. Earlier, it was looked after by the state police. Ever since, aviation security was a new and highly challenging assignment for us.
The aviation sector is growing by leaps and bounds, and by 2020, CISF will be the world’s third largest aviation security expert. We’ll be the largest player in the aviation security market by 2030. Besides, aviation security is regulated by international standards and norms; CISF has to catch up with all these challenges.
CISF director-general OP Singh in his office. Firstpost/Debobrat Ghose
How does CISF safeguard sensitive installations in nuclear and space sectors?
Different treatment is required to protect various domains in the country. Here, technological advancement comes into play and therefore besides manual training, CISF goes for technological training, and gadgets become one of our most important USPs. From securing airports to nuclear plants and space centres, we require hi-tech gadgets. We undergo a high level of technological training combined with our soft and hard skills, physical reflexes, armed training, etc. So, CISF is a conglomeration of all these tools and techniques.
What is CISF’s modernisation plan?
Technology is required in various fields of our functioning. For instance, in access control — which is the know-how required to gain access to a particular installation such as an airport building, or in perimeter security — the area of the airport which is banned for public and is under constant patrolling. You need different gadgets for these specialised jobs. For a quick response time to vulnerable and emergency situations like any terror threat, you need quick response teams to protect installations. Then screening and frisking all require technical gadgets. All CISF personnel, whether working in airports or in different fields, undergo specialised training as per requirement. Securing an airport requires different skills than for securing a nuclear power plant.
CISF wants to provide an integrated security solution under a single umbrella.
Is CISF’s backhand operation equally important?
Of course. We provide training on computerisation, monitoring events via CCTV, post-investigation of incidents, analysis of events etc. On the basis of these, ground-level decisions are taken.
After the Mumbai terror attack (26 November) in 2008, what is CISF’s brief in combating terror threats?
After Mumbai, the mandate of the force was broadened to provide security cover to private establishments by amending the CISF Act. We have specialised training for anti-terror activities, which is provided to our people in the training institutes based in Madhya Pradesh and Greater Noida. Then we have VIP security. We conduct mock drills at various installations to measure up our preparedness for any such eventuality.
Is CISF providing security to installations based in the Red Corridor that is home to Naxals?
Yes, in a big way. Our men have risen to the occasion by not only providing security to installations against Left-wing extremism but also in managing a big public domain — by providing safety and security to thousands of staff members working in the industrial sector. Our job is to protect all the economic installations like mines, steel and power plants, gas pipelines, rail tracks, etc in the Red Corridor from the Naxal threat looming over them.
Besides the Red Corridor, CISF is deployed in other sensitive areas in Jammu and Kashmir and North Eastern states to provide security to highly vulnerable and critical establishments.
How is CISF’s role evolving with the ever-expanding Delhi Metro?
It’s one of the most challenging assignments, as lakhs of people commute every day — securing them is a big task. The population is increasing and the Delhi Metro network is undergoing its third phase of expansion. By sheer numerical strength of the Delhi Metro, it becomes a gigantic task to manage the network — we have to take care of access control, frisking, monitoring, safety and security of commuters, movements, tracking petty crimes, criminal behaviour, women, senior citizens, children safety, issue of human trafficking, missing children, and lost-and-found baggage systems. We’re flexible in finding lost baggage both in Metros and at airports. We’ve deviced a mobile app for this need.
Can you tell more about this mobile app?
It’s called the ‘Lost and Found App’. You can register yourself, log in and find your lost item. We can help you in finding your lost baggage. The app has received the ‘Ficci Smart Policing Award’.
Does CISF have any expansion plans?
Looking at the way we’re expanding in various fields, the government has sanctioned an additional strength of 35,000. Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs increased the manpower ceiling and now from a 1.45-lakh-strong force, we have 1.80 lakh people. We have to undergo a process of recruitment for this and then train them. We’ve been sanctioned two additional reserve battalions, one of which will be posted in the Maoist hotbed of Bastar in Chhattisgarh. Now, the CISF has 12 battalions and 1.80 lakh members of personnel.
The CISF is probably the only security force that earns its salary from its-…
Very true. CISF is a cost-reimbursement force. We’re the only security force in the country that earns its own salary. We provide security and get paid by our clients. We give security consultancy services to various PSUs. We’ve done consultancy for IIT-Kharagpur and Chennai; IDBI and ICICI banks; integrated steel plants; Tata Steel, Tata Power; Allahabad High Court; Tirupati and Thirumala Devasthanam etc.
After the Bhopal jail break incident, the Madhya Pradesh government approached us and we provided them security consultancy. Now they have asked us to do it for Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur jails.
At present, we’re providing consultancy in safety paradigm and architecture to eight private installations including Reliance Refinery at Jamnagar (Gujarat), Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Food and Herbal Park in Haridwar, Electronic City in Bengaluru. So far, we’ve done 134 consultancy services and we earn money out of this. This is our source of revenue as well as salary. We generate revenue for the government and deposit it with the government exchequer.
CISF director-general OP Singh in his office. Firstpost/Debobrat
How important is the role of women in CISF?
Among the Central Armed Police Forces, the CISF has the largest number of women officers and personnel and they work on par with their male counterparts. Airports and Delhi Metro Rail are two areas where women personnel play a vital role. A group of women personnel has been trained in the Filipino martial art Pekiti Tirsia Kali to respond quickly and effectively against the aggressors.
Any overseas assignments?
The first contingent of the CISF went on a UN Mission to Cambodia in 1991-92. Our officers have also served in Mozambique, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Sudan, Cyprus, and Tunisia, among other countries. The present — 8th CISF contingent comprises 140 handpicked, highly-trained armed personnel, who are assisting the Haitian National Police in weapon control and public security measures.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>A youth from Bengaluru, who was detained in connection with the brutal murder of a young woman IT professional here, has been arrested, with police suspecting it to be a case of one-sided affair.Santosh Kumar (25) was arrested late last night, days after he was detained for questioning, police said today.”During investigation, it was revealed that Santosh Kumar had very smartly planned the murder. The accused claimed that he was present in Bengaluru on the day of the incident,” Additional Superintendent of Police Rajkumar Shinde said.Antara Das, 21, was attacked with a sharp weapon near Kanbay Chowk in Talawade on the outskirts of Pune on Friday night, barely 500 metres from her workplace. She was declared dead upon arrival in a hospital.Her parents had alleged that a youth was stalking and harassing her for some time.The ASP said it was found that Kumar, who hails from Bengaluru and is also an IT professional, had tasked someone to execute the attack.A search is on to nab that person, he said.”We have arrested Kumar under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) and he will be produced before court today,” Shinde said.The accused had provided CCTV footage to the police, claiming that he was in Bengaluru on the day of the incident.Shinde said it was suspected to be a case of one-sided affair from Kumar’s side. The victim, however, treated him just as a friend.”There are messages between them which showed that Kumar was forcing her to have a relationship with him. However, she was non-responsive and even reprimanded him for harassing her. We are looking out for the other person in this connection and the manhunt has been intensified,” he said.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday night arrested Delhi lawyer Rohit Tandon in connection with the money laundering case, reported ANI.On December 11, the Crime Branch and Delhi Police had carried out raids at the office of his firm T&T Law and seized nearly Rs 13.5 crore, of which Rs 2.6 crore was in new banknotes released after demonetization.The lawyer had recently declared unaccounted income worth over Rs 125 crore after searches were carried out against him.A day ago, ED has arrested a manager of a Kotak Bank branch here in connection with its money laundering probe in a criminal case of detection of nine alleged fake accounts with deposits worth Rs 34 crore post demonetization.(Developing story, more details are awaited)
Jammu: With local miltancy gaining ground in the Kashmir Valley, SP Vaid, a highly decorated police officer who helped tackle the recent unrest in the region, was appointed the new director general of police of Jammu and Kashmir.
He will take over from K Rajendra Kumar, whose extended tenure comes to an end on 31 December.
The Kashmir Valley witnessed violent clashes . Reuters
The task for 57-year-old Vaid, who is the current special director general (law and order), is cut out as the local youths are again taking up arms, especially after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani, whose killing by the security forces triggered the latest round of turmoil in Kashmir.
A 1986 batch IPS officer, Vaid will hold office till October 2019. “My focus will be to keep the flag of the police force flying high in the state,” he told PTI after his appointment.
He said that while the police will be tough against the perpetrators of violence and terrorists, “I will ensure that no common man is harassed. My idea is to make the police more and more people friendly,” he said.
Vaid is the second officer from Jammu to have risen to the post of director general of police, after MM Khajuria, who held the postion in 1985. However, he is the first regular IPS recruit to become the DGP from Jammu, as Khajuria had been absorbed in the IPS from the state cadre.
The state, according to intelligence reports, has more than 200 local and foreign militants with infiltration and local recruitment crossing all pervious records. The prolonged unrest following Wani’s killing also had a bearing on anti-militancy operations.
In the aftermath of Wani’s killing, law and order situation had spiralled out of control and the state government, while taking a serious note of it, shifted him from the position of DG (prisons) and made him Special DG (law and order). After taking over the charge, he camped in Kashmir and initiated various measures to make optimum use of the force so as to check rising casualties of both civilians and security forces through police-public interaction programmes in almost all districts of the Valley.
Vaid was seriously injured when militants ambushed his vehicle in March 1999 near Sopore crossing on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway. He was the then range DIG of Baramulla-Kupwara in North Kashmir.
During his career, Vaid has received several medals including President’s Police Medal for distinguished service, Indian Police Medal for gallantry, Police Medal for meritorious service, Indian Army Chief’s citation and Antrik Suraksha Seva Padak by the Home Ministry.
Rajendra, a 1984 batch IPS officer, was granted an extension for three months in September this year.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The city police has issued directions to hotels and clubs in Chennai, hosting special programmes on New Year’s eve, to wind up celebrations by 1 am.A direction to this effect was given to hotel owners during a meeting chaired by Additional Commissioner of Police K Shankar, Deputy Commissioners (South zone) S Anbu, (East zone) S Manoharan in Chennai, a police release said on Wednesday.Hotel authorities have been directed to take up all preventive measures ahead of the celebrations so that no untoward incidents take place, it said.The advisory issued to the hotels include, checking all vehicles entering the premises and noting their registration numbers, to close swimming pools from 6 pm on December 31 onwards to 6 am of January 1, 2017.They were also asked to deploy security guards in large numbers in the hotel premises, the release said. Besides, the police officials have warned the new year’s eve revellers of strict action against drunk driving. Vehicles would be seized if more than two persons were seen travelling in a motorcycle, they said.
ALSO READ Party poopers: No DJ, early deadline for Kochi hotels on New Year’s eveThe public have been advised not to venture into the sea or set off crackers in places where people gather in large numbers, the release added.
Hyderabad: Posing as CBI officials, five unidentified persons looted 40 kg gold from a Muthoot Finance officer here on Wednesday, the city police said.
The con men escaped with gold ornaments valued at about Rs 10 crore after first gaining access through the CBI pretence and then threatening the staff with weapons at the Ramachandrapuram office of the company on the outskirts of the city.
Cyberabad Police Commissioner Sandeep Shandilya said they also looted Rs 1 lakh cash.
Representational image. AFP
Initially police had stated that 46 kg gold was looted.
According to police, five persons came to Muthoot Finance branch in the morning and told the staff that they were Central Bureau of Investigation officials and wanted to check records and gold in the lockers as they were investigating a case of theft.
When the branch manager said he was not in a position to show the lockers without permission from top officials, the unidentified men threatened action against him for disobeying orders of CBI officials.
When the lockers were opened, the intruders started collecting the golden ornaments in their bags. As the employees raised objection, one of the men whipped out a gun, threatened the branch manager and other employees and locked them in a bathroom.
The robbers also took away the hard disk of CCTV cameras with them.
Police have launched a massive hunt for the robbers, who escaped in a black coloured Scorpio.
The police commissioner said 16 teams have been formed to track down the culprits. Police were trying to identify the con men by analysing the footage from CCTV cameras around Muthoot Finance branch.
The policemen were searching vehicles along Hyderabad-Mumbai highway from Ramachandrapuram to Zaheerabad town in Sangareddy district.
Meanwhile, dozens of account holders who had kept their gold in Muthoot Finance branch gathered outside and wanted to know from the officials as to when will they get back their gold.
The officials told the people that their gold was completely insured. They said nobody should be worried as Muthoot Finance has 160 tonnes of gold at 4,500 branches spread across the country.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>A group of four persons posing as CBI officials struck at a private finance firm branch in neighbouring Sangareddy district of Telangana and made away with huge amount of gold, police said.Around four persons entered the branch at RC Puram area at around 9.30 am and posing as CBI officials they told the staff they are checking money exchange and later threatened them on gun point and robbed gold before fleeing away in a four-wheeler, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Madhapur Zone) Vishwa Prasad said.Preliminary reports said around 40 kg gold was robbed from the finance branch. However, police said they are in the process of collecting more details from the staff.”We are verifying…the exact quantity has to be ascertained,” Cyberabad Joint Commissioner Stephen Raveendra said. Further probe is underway.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sanjeev Gautam was on Wednesday removed from former Director General Corporate Affairs Bal Kishan Bansal’s suicide case probe. Sources said, Gautam, a 1995 batch Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officer (Custom & Excise), has been sent to the parent department.BK Bansal, a senior bureaucrat, who committed suicide along with his 31-year-old son in September end had in his alleged suicide note, mentioned that his family was tortured by Gautam and his team members. Bansal, had named several persons for making his family’s life “hell”, including Gautam, Superintendent of Police Amrita Kaur, Deputy Superintendent of Police Rekha Sangwan and Investigating Officer Harnam Singh, apart from an unnamed head constable.In July, Bansal was arrested by the CBI on charges of corruption. Hours after he was produced in court, his wife Satyabala and daughter Neha were found hanging in two separate rooms at their residence in Neelkanth Apartments on July 22. The Supreme Court earlier in November issued notices to the Centre and the CBI on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the controversial suicide case.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The West Bengal government has instructed the police not to send any report directly to the Union Home Ministry on the law-and-order situation in the state without getting it vetted by the state secretariat.”This is a practise where the Home Ministry sends a letter to the state police headquarters seeking a report on the law-and-order situation every year and replies are sent directly to it without seeking the opinion of the secretariat,” a highly-placed source at the state secretariat told PTI. But this year, the report from the police headquarters requires a nod from the secretariat, before being sent to the Centre, he added. The source said the letter from the Centre, which was sent recently to the state police headquarters (Bhawani Bhawan), sought information on law-and-order in the backdrop of the arrest of several persons having links with terror outfits such as the JMB and IS, unearthing of an international child-trafficking racket and seizure of fake currency notes.He said an “internal circular” was issued from the top echelons of the state police that “no statistics would be sent to the Home Ministry without the consent of the state secretariat”. The circular stated that henceforth such queries from the Home Ministry, seeking any report on law-and-order, should be forwarded to the state Director General of Police. From now on, no official at the police directorate will be allowed to send any report to the Home Ministry directly. The DGP will go through the Centre’s queries following which top officials of the administration will meet to decide whether to answer them or not. In certain cases, the chief minister’s opinion could also be sought, the source said.In 2013, the state had not sent any statistics to the National Crime Bureau (NCB). The decision of the state government came in the wake of deterioration in the Centre-state ties over a number of issues such as the deployment of army at toll plazas “without taking the state’s permission” and CRPF personnel accompanying income tax officers during a search operation in the state. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had described the two developments as a move against the spirit of the federal structure.
Srinagar: The core group on security in Kashmir on Tuesday reviewed the overall situation in the valley and chalked out security strategy for the winter months.
“The core group met on Tuesday at Badami Bagh Cantonment to review the overall situation and to draw the security strategy for the winters,” an army official said.
Representational image. PTI
He said the meeting was co-chaired by Lt General J S Sandhu, GOC Chinar Corps, and Director General of Police K Rajender Kumar.
Top officials of all the constituents of the core group, including civil administration and security agencies, attended the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Lt General Sandhu complimented the members and officials of the core group for the high-level of synergy among all the agencies in addressing the security concerns of Kashmir.
The DGP expressed similar sentiments and elaborated on the key security initiatives that have been put into place to manage the law and order situation in the valley.
“The members deliberated upon various issues to evolve a comprehensive strategy to respond to the various external and internal security challenges. Plans for maintaining a robust counter-infiltration and counter-terrorism grid were discussed,” the official said.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>In a case of crackdown on press freedom, a non-bailable warrant was filed against Zee News reporters by the government of West Bengal for covering the Dhulagarh riots, claims Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhury.. He wrote on Twitter: “@MamataOfficial Govt files FIR against me& @ZeeNews reporter for covering #DhulagarhRiots with Non Bailable sections. FIR for showing truth?”Zee News Chief Editor Sudhir Chaudhary wrote on Facebook: “ Just to inform all of you Mamta Banerjee Govt has filed an FIR against me and ZeeNews reporter Pooja Mehta and cameraperson Tanmay Mukherjee for covering Dhulagarh Riots on Zee News.The FIR has non bailable sections which is enough to gauge their intentions to arrest me and my colleagues. Pooja Mehta is just 25 and got the taste of Mamta’s intolerance so early in life in the form of a non bailable FIR.This is what a young girl reporter getting to learn from a woman chief minister who claims to be the champion of democracy.It’s another low point in our democracy to see a democratically elected govt using police force to curb media in an effort to suppress uncomfortable facts and reality.When you can’t manage media,use the state machinery to conquer the media only to conceal the failures of your administration. It shows the intolerance of a chief minister who is using the state machinery as her personal fiefdom and acting like a feudal lord. I see the positive side of this blunder as a window for all free minds of this nation to act and show fascist forces their actual place. Or once again Selfish Politics will prevail? That’s my fear. #IntolerantMamta”On December 13, clashes between two communities erupted following the Milad-ul-Nabi celebrations in Dhulagarh. Locals in the village alleged that ‘unprovoked’ clashes erupted after an infuriated mob in a procession of Milad-ul-Nabi celebrations started charging bombs at the houses. However, members in the procession allege that they were prevented from taking out the procession, following which violent clashes broke out.A week after clashes erupted in Howrah district’s Dhulagarh, the Bengal governor Keshari Nath Trpathi summoned Bengal Director General of Police (DGP), Surajit Kar Purkayastha on Thursday. This comes a day after BJP Rajya Sabha MP Roopa Ganguly led a delegation and met the victims of Dhulagarh incident.Disclaimer: Zee News is DNA’s sister organisation.
New Delhi: Four men, arrested for allegedly raping a US tourist in a 5-star hotel earlier this year, were on Tuesday sent to two-day judicial custody by a city court.
Metropolitan Magistrate Harvinder Singh sent the accused to Tihar Jail after Delhi Police moved an application seeking their judicial custody.
Yesterday, the police had arrested a tour guide, a driver, a cleaner and a hotel staff in connection with the alleged gangrape of the woman in April this year.
Representational image. AFP
The US national arrived here a few days ago to join the probe and recorded her statement in front of a judicial magistrate where she reiterated that she was gangraped by five persons in a five-star hotel here.
Four accused were arrested after the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) issued a notice to Delhi Police asking them why the Rape Crisis Cell of the women’s panel was not informed when the victim’s statement was recorded.
Earlier, the complainant had said she was not “satisfied” with the probe and was ready to come to India to identify the accused.
The woman had alleged that she was raped by the men for two days and also threatened with dire consequences if she reported the matter to anybody.
She had also stated that the accused had made a video of the act and threatened to make it public if she reported the matter to anyone. She had also told the police that the accused had claimed to have sexually assaulted a couple of other female tourists as well.
A team of psychologists and psychiatrists have been assisting the lady in recalling the details of the incident. The team is also working with the police in their investigation to tie up loose ends.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Four men, arrested for allegedly raping a US tourist in a 5-star hotel earlier this year, were today sent to two-day judicial custody by a city court.Metropolitan Magistrate Harvinder Singh sent the accused to Tihar Jail after Delhi Police moved an application seeking their judicial custody. Yesterday, the police had arrested a tour guide, a driver, a cleaner and a hotel staff in connection with the alleged gangrape of the woman in April this year.The US national arrived here a few days ago to join the probe and recorded her statement in front of a judicial magistrate where she reiterated that she was gangraped by five persons in a five-star hotel here. Four accused were arrested after the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) issued a notice to Delhi Police asking them why the Rape Crisis Cell of the women’s panel was not informed when the victim’s statement was recorded.Earlier, the complainant had said she was not “satisfied” with the probe and was ready to come to India to identify the accused. The woman had alleged that she was raped by the men for two days and also threatened with dire consequences if she reported the matter to anybody.She had also stated that the accused had made a video of the act and threatened to make it public if she reported the matter to anyone. She had also told the police that the accused had claimed to have sexually assaulted a couple of other female tourists as well. A team of psychologists and psychiatrists have been assisting the lady in recalling the details of the incident.The team is also working with the police in their investigation to tie up loose ends.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The four accused and arrested in connection with the alleged gang rape of a US national in a five-star hotel, will be produced before the Patiala House Court on Tuesday.The Delhi Police yesterday arrested a tour guide, driver, tourist bus helper and a hotel worker. “On December 3, the Delhi police registered a case in connection with the gangrape. The complainant was kind enough to come down to Delhi, got her statement recorded before police and court and helped in collecting evidence,” said Deependra Pathak, Joint Commissioner of Police, South West District.The lady in her complaint said she had arrived in Delhi on a tourist visa in March this year and was staying at the hotel when the crime took place.Reports suggest that the tourist guide during her stay arrived at the hotel along with four friends one day. The men shared a few drinks in the lady’s room following which they allegedly took turns to rape her.The woman, who went back to the US traumatised by the incident, had gone into depression.
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has directed the Union Territory of Daman and Diu to pay a compensation of Rs four lakh to a journalist who was handcuffed by the police and paraded on the streets after he was arrested on the charge of extortion in 2009.
“The Administration of the Union Territory has violated the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution by illegally handcuffing and parading him on 2 July, 2009,” said the High Court in its ruling on 22 December.
Bombay High Court. News18
A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and AA Sayed directed the Union Territory to pay the compensation to Satish Sharma within two months. Sharma had moved the HC questioning police’s action of handcuffing and parading him. It was illegal and violated the right to personal liberty guaranteed by the Constitution, he said.
Maintaining that he was an honest journalist and the whole episode had tarnished his reputation, Sharma demanded a compensation of Rs five crore.
The HC said that while it was ordering the administration to pay Sharma Rs four lakh, he was free to file another suit to demand additional compensation. The Administrator of the Union Territory can take steps for recovery of the compensation amount from the erring officers through a due process of law, the judges said.
The court also ordered the Union Territory to pay an additional Rs 25,000 to Sharma towards litigation cost. Further, the Administrator of the UT shall initiate inquiry for fixing the responsibility for the illegal action of police, the court said.
Sharma, editor of the daily Savera India Times, was arrested by the police in Daman after a case of extortion and criminal intimidation was filed against him.
He alleged it was a vindictive action as his newspaper had exposed misdeeds of the then Administrator of the Union Territory, other officials and the police. The Administrator had filed a police complaint against him.
Sharma was arrested in Diu, brought to Daman by police in a bus, and forced to walk while handcuffed to the police station through a crowded market, according to the petition.
The Press Council of India had ordered an inquiry by a sessions judge into Sharma’s allegations. The judge confirmed that he was indeed handcuffed and paraded by the police.
Advocate MK Kocharekar, petitioner’s lawyer, cited several Supreme Court decisions to argue that handcuffing was illegal and amounted to a gross violation of fundamental rights.
Rajkot: Two persons were arrested on Monday with counterfeit currency in the denominations of newly introduced Rs 2,000 and Rs 500, having a face value of Rs 26,10,000, police said.
Representational image. AFP
“Acting on a tip-off, the city crime branch sleuths intercepted a car at Hanuman Madhi area and arrested two persons with fake currency notes of Rs 2,000 with face value of Rs 26 lakh, and of Rs 500 with face value of Rs 10,000,” Rajkot Commissioner of Police Anupam Singh Gehlot told mediapersons here.
The arrested persons were identified as Hruday Jagani and Lakshman Chauhan, both hailing from Ahmedabad, he said.
The notes were kept inside the speaker box of the car in which they were travelling, Gehlot said.
He said a high quality colour printing machine was also seized from their possession which was used to print the currency notes.
The cover of notes’ bundles bore the tag and seal of a public sector bank to make them look like original, he said.
“Hruday used to work as a printer and has a sound technical know-how of printing and cutting notes with perfection so that they look like original,” Gehlot said.
“The mastermind was identified as one Jignesh Shah, who is a land broker in Ahmedabad. Jignesh would find customers looking to exchange their old currency notes, and would order printing of notes after he struck a deal with his customers,” the senior police officer said.
A search is on to nab Shah.
He said the accused might have supplied several such notes since demonetisation came into effect on November 9.
“They would bring such notes into circulation in different ways. They’d hide duplicate notes in the bundle of original notes so that it was supplied easily, and would earn around Rs 15,000-20,000 on supply of Rs 2 lakh,” Gehlot said.
“Another modus operandi was to hide blank notes below the Rs 2,000 lookalike duplicate notes,” he said.
Gehlot said ever since demonetisation came into effect, around Rs 2 crore worth of old notes and Rs 70 lakh of new notes were seized from Rajkot alone.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Two persons were arrested on Monday with counterfeit currency in the denominations of newly introduced Rs 2,000 and Rs 500, having a face value of Rs 26,10,000, police said.”Acting on a tip-off, the city crime branch sleuths intercepted a car at Hanuman Madhi area and arrested two persons with fake currency notes of Rs 2,000 with face value of Rs 26 lakh, and of Rs 500 with face value of Rs 10,000,” Rajkot Commissioner of Police Anupam Singh Gehlot told mediapersons here.The arrested persons were identified as Hruday Jagani and Lakshman Chauhan, both hailing from Ahmedabad, he said.The notes were kept inside the speaker box of the car in which they were travelling, Gehlot said.He said a high quality colour printing machine was also seized from their possession which was used to print the currency notes.The cover of notes’ bundles bore the tag and seal of a public sector bank to make them look like original, he said.”Hruday used to work as a printer and has a sound technical know-how of printing and cutting notes with perfection so that they look like original,” Gehlot said.”The mastermind was identified as one Jignesh Shah, who is a land broker in Ahmedabad. Jignesh would find customers looking to exchange their old currency notes, and would order printing of notes after he struck a deal with his customers,” the senior police officer said.A search is on to nab Shah.He said the accused might have supplied several such notes since demonetisation came into effect on November 9.”They would bring such notes into circulation in different ways. They’d hide duplicate notes in the bundle of original notes so that it was supplied easily, and would earn around Rs 15,000-20,000 on supply of Rs 2 lakh,” Gehlot said.”Another modus operandi was to hide blank notes below the Rs 2,000 lookalike duplicate notes,” he said.Gehlot said ever since demonetisation came into effect, around Rs 2 crore worth of old notes and Rs 70 lakh of new notes were seized from Rajkot alone.
At an undisclosed lockup, Parasmal Lodha — known for his fetish for limousines, priceless watches, Cognac and mahogany beds — sleeps on the floor covered with prickly blankets, his meals comprise flatbread and lentils.
Officials of the Enforcement Directorate, who arrested Lodha on charges of illegally re-routing cash to make it look legal (read hawala), showed no mercy to the 60 year-old influencer, rejecting all pleas for special treatment, including home-cooked food. Lodha, claimed sources within the probe agency, did not like being treated as a commoner. To the wealthy across India, he was — over two decades — known as the three-word man: “Get it Done”. But now, Lodha had no choice.
“It’s interesting to see him in such a condition. In 40 years, life has turned full circle for Lodha and his crimes,” quipped an ED official, in an apparent hint about Lodha’s initial years when he had arrived in Kolkata in 1977 as a carpetbagger and sold stuffed betel leaves and flavoured paan masala in front of Poddar Court, an imposing building close to Lalbazar police headquarters.
Old-timers in Kolkata recall how Lodha and Nandu Pasari, a dealer of Raymond suitings, grew in stature and, of the two, Lodha started doing small-time brokering on behalf of Arun Poddar, owner of Poddar Court.
Parasmal Lodha being taken to court last week. PTI
Lodha, thanks to Poddar, increased his network among Kolkata’s Marwari community, and using their financial prowess, wanted to take over the Peerless Group, then India’s largest residuary non-banking company, in 1987 by acquiring 50 percent of its shares and a seat on its board.
Chairman of Peerless PC Sen had complained to the Kolkata Police that Lodha had offered his staff loads of cash but when refused, Lodha even threatened to kill him using his contact with Dawood Ibrahim. Lodha was questioned by the cops but eventually let off. However, his attempt failed as the Left Front and Congress jointly staved off his bid — CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee and Congress leader Priya Ranjan Das Munshi joined hands — and Lodha’s stake was down to 30 percent.
However, the Peerless misadventure proved to be the biggest springboard for Lodha, who was now seen as the best face for “deals and negotiations” in Kolkata, some in Delhi and Mumbai were also calling him for consultations.
But then came the second jolt when 43 people were charred to death in a deadly inferno that swept through the multi-storeyed Stephen Court in the heart of Kolkata in March, 2010. Lodha was rumoured to be the actual owner of the building, where he had flouted several rules and even built two extra floors bribing his way through. A team of the Kolkata Police had also arrested Sanjay Bagaria, the son-in-law of industrialist GP Goenka — a friend of Lodha’s — from a guest house of a paper mill in Saharanpur, in August 2010. Bagaria was one of the directors of Stephen Court Limited — the century-old architectural heritage building on the upmarket Park Street in Kolkata — and had gone missing after the inferno swept through the building. Interestingly, Lodha managed to extricate himself from the incident.
“Lodha had — by the mid-1090s — moved from Kolkata to Delhi and acquired expensive properties, including a huge farmhouse where he entertained guests,” said ED sources.
Among his friends were a host of retired judges with considerable influence on the judiciary, many cabinet ministers, corporate captains, and sons of the then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao. Lodha was a regular at the PMO in South Block.
Lodha expanded his wings even abroad. The ED is looking into his proximity with some influential Indian families in London and Kenya, even in Australia and whether those families benefitted from Lodha’s largesse. Having helped a top Indian conglomerate when his business deals in Australia went sour, Lodha was also seen in the forefront of a group helping a London-based family solve teething problems in its automobile business.
“He was seen as the ultimate saviour who knew the routes to instant cash. He wanted to try his hand into everything, including films,” claimed ED officials. It is reliably learnt that it was Lodha who helped the influential Renu Roy garner cash to finance Rituparna Ghosh’s award winning film, UnisheyApril, in 1994. He even lobbied for Roy to become the first woman president of Kolkata’s prestigious Saturday Club in 2007-2008, raising many eyebrows in the city.
ED officials claim Lodha had been under the scanner for almost a decade but “serious tracking” by the agencies started when it was claimed that he was the front to re-route financial packages offered by the Indian government to ailing jute mills in Bengal. Many jute mill owners were accused of diverting Central funds without refurbishing the jute mills. Some were also slicing off portions of jute mills into real estate zones. “Lodha was thick in it,” claimed ED officials.
Lodha also worked with influential Marwari tycoons in Kolkata who wanted to acquire heritage buildings close to the Ganges. He had an uncanny ability to get sanctions for extra floors and eventually legalise them by paying hefty bribes to the cops, state government officials and civic authorities. He was then jokingly called “Extra Floor Lodha”.
But his interests in real estate dimmed in late 1990s amd he shifted to cash re-routing, lobbying with the judiciary and started negotiating with many across India. Instead of shuttling regularly between Delhi and Kolkata, his new destinations now were Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Bollywood interested him immensely, Lodha often used small-time Bollywood actresses and models to impress his clients. Barely 10 days before his arrest, Lodha was in touch with a Bollywood starlet whose services he wanted for two of his clients.
It wasn’t just cinema and actors, however, as Lodha showed an interest in owning news channels. Always ready to strike a deal and completing it successfully, he was then known as “Deal Done Lodha”. He was always interested in the end result, often telling his conduits in simple words: “Kaam Hona Chahiye” which translates to “The work must happen”.
His name cropped up when many in Kolkata were being interrogated by the CBI in the Sharada scam. Lodha — or so claimed those who were interrogated — had urged them to sell licences to run news channels to Sudipta Sen of Sharada, promising them “high value deals” because of his clout with Sudipta.
Arrested last Thursday from the Mumbai Airport while trying to flee to Malaysia, allegedly for illegally converting demonetised notes worth Rs 25 crore into new currency for Chennai sand baron J Sekhar Reddy and lawyer Rohit Tandon, Lodha started showing his clout at the airport, virtually naming the entire UPA-I and UPA-II Cabinets and some ministers of the ruling NDA-led government as his friends. “His handset and messages folder looked like an encyclopaedia,” said a top source.
ED officials were tracking Lodha after New Delhi’s demonetisation moves, and eventually a dossier was prepared on the hawala trader and influencer, and clearances were sought from the Ministry of Home Affairs. “His huge influence was indeed a cause of worry for us,” claimed the ED officials.
No more.
Inside the ED lockup, Lodha is unable to crack a deal and nothing is happening to his satisfaction. He does not even have his expensive watch to see if time is on his side.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>A 23-year-old woman software engineer working with an IT firm in Pune was hacked to death by an unidentified assailant barely some metres away from her office on the outskirts of the city. Antara Das, who hailed from West Bengal, was attacked with a sharp-edged weapon at around 8 PM on Friday night when she was returning home from work near Tathwade area, a senior police official of Dehuroad Police Station said. “Das was rushed to a nearby hospital. However, she was declared dead on arrival,” he said.According to the officer, robbery angle has been ruled out as the valuables the woman was carrying were intact. A case was registered in this regard, police said, adding a probe was underway. According to a statement given by her company Capgemini to the police, Das left the office at 8 PM on Friday night and decided not to travel by the office cab.The woman mentioned in the office register that she would be taking an auto to get back home, police said. The attack took place barely some metres from her office and she was rushed to hospital by passers-by.
Mumbai: Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam, who planned to lead a ‘silent’ march of party workers to the venue of Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s public meeting in Mumbai on Saturday, claimed he had been placed under “house arrest” by police which denied the charge.
Mumbai Police said the personnel deployed outside Nirupam’s residence were only part of the security arrangements made across the city in view of the PM’s visit for launching some major projects.
“The area outside my house is under heavy police bandobast and I am being prevented from stepping out,” Nirupam told PTI,
“In the present democratic set up Opposition leaders are being virtually kept under house-arrest,” he alleged.
File photo of Sanjay Nirupam. AFP
Asked about Nirupam’s allegation, Mumbai Police spokesperson, DCP Ashok Dudhe. said, “We have deployed policemen across the city especially on the route of PM’s convoy to maintain law and order as well as to avoid any untoward incident during his visit.”
Nirupam said the morcha was planned as a peaceful march to highlight some live issues.
“We have a lot of questions for the PM. He should answer graft allegations made by our Vice President Rahul Gandhi instead of mocking him. Modi should also answer when the people will get back their right to deposit and withdraw their own hard earned money from banks. It is more than a month. Since demonetisation citizens are still suffering due to cash crunch,” he said.
AICC General Secretary in-charge of Maharashtra, Mohan Prakash accused the police of curbing the democratic rights of political rivals, which he alleged was being done at the behest of the government.
“Earlier, the government put restrictions on citizens’ rights to access their money and now there are restrictions on freedom of expression as well,” he said.
Condemning the “house arrest” of Nirupam, MPCC spokersperson Sachin Sawant said, “It is indeed, a black day for Indian democracy. This act confirms the fact that the BJP government has a sadist and fascist mindset, which denies the citizen’s basic fundamental constitutional right to protest peacefully.”
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –> A 5-year-old boy studying at a Government Primary School in Nalgonda district of Telangana died after falling in a vessel of hot sambar which was being prepared for mid-day meal, police said on Saturday.The incident occurred in Iduluru village on Saturday afternoon, when the boy, a first standard student, was standing in the queue along with other students when someone pushed him from behind and he fell into the hot sambar vessel, they said.”The boy, who suffered 70 per cent burns was initially taken to a government hospital in Nalgonda and later shifted to a state-run hospital in Hyderabad where he succumbed to his injuries around midnight,” Nakrekal Police Station Circle Inspector A Vishwaprasad told PTI over phone.Following a complaint by the grandfather of the deceased boy, a case of negligence was filed against three women cooks with Katangoor police station, the Inspector said.The District Collector visited the village and announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh, a government job and a house site to the family members of the deceased boy, police official said, adding the Head Master of the school was suspended and probe is on.
A month ago, a friend wandered into a grocery store where she saw a vaguely familiar man staring at her. She approached him and asked if they knew each other. He said: yes. He knew her name and even rattled off a list of places where he’d seen her before — at track practice, a park close to her home, a bookstore. With growing discomfort, she turned to leave when he called out to her. “It was your birthday two days ago, wasn’t it? Happy birthday.” This last bit of information was not even on social media.
While she was shaken by the interaction, many people didn’t consider it something to worry about. After all, they countered, he wasn’t harming her. In fact, he’d been nice to her and wished her happy birthday. While she chose not to go to the police, she felt unsettled for a long time after the incident.
On 17 December, Jyothi Kumari, an advocate in her 20s, was on her way to work in Bengaluru when she was murdered by Madhu, who had been stalking her for years. He had constantly harassed her when she was younger. He would follow her to college and incessantly telephone her house. He disappeared for a while when her uncle intervened but two months before the incident, Jyothi had approached the police saying that Madhu had resurfaced. He attacked her when she was in her PG and also stolen her scooter. All that the complaint yielded was a “stern warning”. No FIR was filed.
S Swathi, an Infosys employee was hacked to death by her stalker at Chennai’s Nungambakkam railway station in June. Image courtesy: Facebook
Jyothi is the latest in a growing number of women who have been harassed and killed by their stalkers — angry, entitled men seeking revenge after their advances were rejected. Many of these crimes also share a pattern of having been committed in public places, often as these women were travelling to or from their place of work.
Pinki Devi, a beautician in Gurgaon was stabbed to death by her stalker at a metro station in Delhi in October. S Swathi (in pic), an Infosys employee, was hacked to death by her stalker at Chennai’s Nungambakkam railway station in June.
With every horrific case, what becomes clear is this — stalking cannot be brushed aside as something casual. Yet there are movies and pop culture that glorify stalking, depicting it as proof that a man’s persistence pays off. Just a few months ago Tamil actor Sivakarthikeyan defended stalking saying that it does not matter if in a movie the hero’s feelings are not reciprocated initially, if his thoughts are “pure” and if he is willing to marry the girl.
The Indian Penal Code (IPC), thankfully, was amended in 2013 to include stalking as a crime. The Section 354 of the IPC deals with attempts to outrage a woman’s modesty: the amendment introduced Clause 354D to specifically address instances of stalking and defines a stalker as any man who follows, contacts, or attempts to contact a woman to foster a personal interaction with her, despite her clear indication of disinterest.
Despite this, the police still often do not file a FIR under Clause 354D of the IPC but prefer Clause 354A that deals with molestation. But, 354A only covers incidents where a man initiates unwanted physical contact that is explicitly sexual, demands sexual favours, forcefully shows pornography against the will of a woman or makes sexually coloured remarks — things that may or may not happen in a case of stalking.
If my friend had indeed tried to complain to the police about the stalker in the grocery store, how effective would it have been? Journalist Arunima Mazumdar wrote of experiencing something similar when she called the police after being harassed by an old classmate, both online and offline, from 2013 to 2015. Mazumdar was made to wait for hours at the police station before an officer nonchalantly commented that Pradhan hadn’t really “done” anything to her. A FIR was not filed and the stalker was let off after writing an “apology” letter.
As per the law, stalkers can receive bail if they are convicted of the crime for the first time — and this sometimes gives the offender an awful opportunity for revenge (bail can be denied only in the case of subsequent convictions for stalking). For instance, Lakshmi, a 32-year-old housewife, was stabbed to death in Delhi in September by Sanjay Kumar. He had already been arrested for harassing her but had secured bail. In 2015, Meenakshi, a teenager in Delhi, was also murdered, by Jai Prakash despite her family having lodged a complaint against him for stalking — two years before she was murdered.
So is there a law that can ensure that stalkers don’t approach women after police complaints have already been made? While India does not have provisions for restraining orders in the way that the US does, prohibitive injunctions have been cited as a method of ordering a person to not interfere with another’s liberty.
Lawyer Aarti Mundkur clarifies that although injunctions are filed in civil courts, this can only be done if there is already a criminal case pending against the accused for the same. Such injunctions are rarely granted anyway. Rebecca John, a senior advocate in the Delhi High Court, also says that these civil proceedings are long drawn out and arduous. According to her, the most important concern is of enforceability — currently, there is nothing that ensures that stalkers follow injunction orders — and so these injunctions often turn out to be only scraps of paper.
A video entitled The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon went viral a few years ago — it’s a horror-comedy short film where a ghoulish stranger follows a man around, trying to kill him. It’s funny because his weapon of choice is a spoon. All that the stranger does is to shadow him constantly, tapping away with a spoon. The victim slowly loses his sanity. His complaints to the police are not taken seriously because they sound ludicrous. That’s what stalking can feel like. Somebody whittling another’s security away with something seemingly innocuous. Somebody whose fixation transcends the fact that the other person is also human, with her own feelings and the right to not be interested.
The Ladies Finger (TLF) is a leading online women’s magazine delivering fresh and witty perspectives on politics, culture, health, sex, work and everything in between.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>11 persons have been arrested for bearing fake notes of old denomination in Rs 500 and Rs 1000 to the worth of Rs 1.35 crores and original notes in the similar denomination to the worth of 1.80 lakh. These were being carried with intentions of exchange of notes fraud, the police said.According to the Nashik city police, the Income Tax department had some information regarding some illegal exchange notes and frauds through it. While the department was working on the information it asked for help from the Nashik city police and three vehicles were caught in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday on December 23, 2016 around 1.30 am. “The police got information that vehicles were moving from Dhule towards Nashik and a barricade was laid at Jatra hotel on the highway in the city. Three vehicles including a MH-15, CM-7002, MH-4 EF – 9701, and MH -15 FH – 2111 were checked at this point.The vehicles had 11 persons and it was found that gunny bags full of currency were kept in the vehicles. All the 11 persons were held and the vehicles along with the currency were seized”, senior PI Sanjay Sanap, Adgaon police station said. Among those who have been held are Sandip Raste, , Rakesh Karkhur from Thane, Ishwar Parmar, Nilesh Layase, Gautam Jadhav, and Praveen Mandhare all from Mumbai, Prabhakar Gharate, Santosh Gaikwad, Ramrao Patil and Chabu Nagre all from Nashik and Ramesh Pangarkar from Sinnar. While Chabu Nagre is the existing president of the NCP’s youth wing in Nashik, Ramrao Patil is also affiliated to NCP.Pangarkar is said to have political affiliation with his brother being a leader of a political party and being enquired in another case of exchange of notes filed a few days back in Nashik by the Income Tax department. Others from Pune and Mumbai are said to be businessmen. Speaking to the media about the case, Commissioner of Police, Nashik , Dr Ravinder Singal said that prima facie it is understood that the notes were to be used for exchange of currency through needy people on commission basis. However the police is investigating as to where the notes came from, where were they being carried, to whom were they to be given to, the modus operandi of the operation. Police also said that primarily it appears that the fake notes have been printed in Nashik but other details of printing, machines, ink are yet to be obtained. The police have filed a case under 489 (B), (C), (D), (E), 120B, 34 for use of counterfeit notes.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>An unlikely pair of a Delhi Police constable and a 13-year-old girl is slowly but surely transforming the lives of many underprivileged children in the Red Fort area.Than Singh, a constable at the Red Fort Police Post and Ankita, a student of the Jain Senior Secondary School in Chandni Chowk, organise classes for as many as 19 slum children whose parents are either daily wage labourers or involved in other menial jobs, such as cleaning and maintaining the historic Red Fort. Popular for his perseverance and a big heart, Singh himself was born and brought up in a JJ cluster. Though he tried everything, from ironing clothes to selling corn and serving at a restaurant, to fund his education, he was forced to drop out of college in the final year due to adverse circumstances. He now sponsors the books, stationery and other necessary items for the children. Ankita, who actually teaches the kids, was born and brought up inside the quarters at the Red Fort. Her father works as an electrician and also serves tea to make ends meet. The sharp and optimistic teen comes to teach these children after finishing her own classes.The Sai Baba Mandir near the Red Fort, usually out of bounds for the public, is the duo’s preferred spot to educate, learn and thrive. This make-shift tiny tuition centre recognises the children for who they are — curious and eager to learn — without considering their financial circumstances.The initiative has received the support of SHO (Kotwali) Om Prakash Lekhwal and PP Red Fort incharge Pradeep as well, who recently sponsored sweaters for the children. Now the children have taken to those sweaters as their uniform and wear them for the class daily.Everyday, the spartan little room turns into a zone of positive energy. Some posters of Gods and education-related material, a blackboard, a mat and the palpable enthusiasm are the only things that adorn the room where these kids study. “Some kids are very intelligent. Initially, there was some resistance but then we made sure that all the kids came together. They are also very attached to anything we give them and treasure it dearly,” Ankita says.Mausam, 6, used to pick plastic bottles from the Red Fort lawns. Now the proud child says she knows how to count from 1 to 20. Other kids also used to roam around, picking up bottles, selling water, papad and chutneys, among other sundry items. But now they are enthusiastic about their education. The fact that they are provided chips, candies and parathas, along with some sports equipment, on a regular basis is just the icing on the cake.Mahesh, 14, had come to the Red Fort four years ago along with his father, who cleans the stones and marble at the Fort. “I sold water bottles here. Papa enrolled me at a school in Jabalpur but I did not study much and then we moved here. Now, I come to this class every day. I know the alphabet, names of fruits and vegetables, and numbers till 50,” he says.For this lot that was almost invisible in the shadow of the national monument, the future now seems a little brighter.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>In a shocking incident, a 7-year-old girl was allegedly raped in Lucknow’s Ashiyana Police Station area. She has been hospitalised in a serious condition.As per TOI, the girl resides in Kila Mohamadi village of Aashiana. Her father works as a class III employee with Railways in Lucknow.The victim had gone to buy toffee at 3.30 pm but did not return. Her parents began to look for her but after failing to find her they lodged a missing report at the Aashiana police station.When the search was going on, some locals found bleeding in a grove near a Gurudwara in Ashiana. She was taken to Lok Bandhu Hospital by the police and later to the King George’s Medical University.According to Circle Officer, Cantt, Avanish Mishra, there were grievous injuries in the girl’s private part indicating sexual assault. He also said that since the girl was found quite far from her home and it is not possible for a child her age to travel so far. “It seemed that someone picked her from way,” he said.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>A 42-year-old cop who was recently posted in the Anti-Terror Squad has been found dead in Rajasthan in the front seat of his official car on Thursday night, reports NDTV.Superintendent of Police Ashish Prabhakar allegedly shot himself with is revolver in his car. A body of a woman in her early thirties was also found next to him. The car was parked on a road outside Jaipur. A note allegedly written by Prabhakar asking forgiveness from his wife was found by the police. According to the police, the apparent reasons for his suicide seem to be family issues.Prabhakar was posted a month ago in the ATS and was given administrative work.
Thu, 22 Dec 2016-07:10pm , Raipur (Chhattisgarh) , ANI
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Police busted a human trafficking racket in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district and arrested five people involved in it.So far, about 70 victims have been rescued, including 20 minor boys and 13 minor girls.Chhattisgarh has become a transit point for human trafficking with several cases being reported or found in a couple of years.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Uttar Pradesh police has arrested a man for brutally beating a woman in a market place for resisting molestation.A case has been registered at Kishani area police station in Mainpuri against the three miscreants.One of the suspects, Anand Yadav, has been arrested. A special team has been made to nab the remaining two culprits.”I was asking a few persons about Ajay’s shop, but they said that come inside with us, we will tell you. I asked him to talk with respect. But he started abusing us and started fighting. The person used a stick to beat my husband, but hit me instead,” the victim said.Superintendant of Police Sunil Saxena said, “We have registered the case and after that the medical checkup was done. We have taken the preventive action by arresting the accused. The accused was arrested within hours of the incident and after that a special team has been made to arrest the remaining culprits. We have made a team which includes the surveillance team and sub-inspectors. I am monitoring that; soon we will complete the remaining proceedings.”
Wed, 21 Dec 2016-07:55pm , Bhubaneshwar , ANI
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) workers engaged in a scuffle on Wednesday after the opposition called for a shutdown across the state in protest against a sex scandal involving the Mayor of Bhubaneswar Ananta Jena.Protestors also burnt tyres and blocked roads in the city. Police had to baton charge the protesters, some of whom were taken into custody.”We condemn this, this is gundaraj. We want justice for the student who was murdered. The mayor is involved and the chief minister is protecting him. The mayor should resign,” said BJP leader Samir Dey.”We will never let Naveen Patnaik’s succeed in his intentions. The people supporting the BJP will continue our protest,” a BJP worker said.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Son of a ruling JD(U) member of State Legislative Council Dinesh Singh was on Wednesday booked in a case of murder of a worker in Fatehpur village of Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district.On the basis of a statement given by the wife of deceased, an FIR has been registered with Kanti police station against Chottu Singh, son of JD(U) MLC Dinesh Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police, West, Ajay Kumar said.The police recovered dead body of labourer Suresh Sah near Chainpur canal under Kanti police station this morning, the DSP said.The wife of deceased said in her complaint that Chottu Singh had forcefully called her husband at his home late last night. She alleged that Chottu Singh was involved in illegal liquor trade. Her husband, who worked as a painter at the residence of MLC Dinesh Singh, had come in contact with Chottu Singh.The DSP said that police is investigating into the matter.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>A 22-year old girl allegedly wrote “Cat’s throat slit by Kashif” on a door of a 39-year-old neighbour after her Persian cat was found dead in a posh building at Bandra. The sentence was written using a red paint. The neighbour alleged that the girl later assaulted him and vandalised his car.Kashif Ehsan Khan, a resident of Mimi apartment at Turner road in Bandra (W) was shocked to find a graffiti on his door with sentence that ‘Cat’s throat slit by Kashif’ written in red paint with the pug marks drawn alongside. The Persian cat was found dead in the passage around 7 am on Sunday.”She complained to the police that I killed her cat and after finding her dead she damaged my car and brought the spray paint and wrote absurd sentence on my door. We approached the police in this regard”, said Kashif Khan.The Bandra police later hauled both of them to the police station and registered the complaint against the girl. Pandit Thackeray, Senior Inspector, Bandra police station confirmed the incident and said, “We have got post mortem of the cat conducted and have got cat’s viscera collected and sent for forensic analysis at Kalina Laboratory.””On getting the medical reports it will be clear for us to take a call whether an offence should be registered for the death of cat,” said Thackeray.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The Telangana government on Monday rejected demand of Opposition parties for a CBI probe into the criminal activities of slain gangster Nayeem, saying, state police can conduct effective investigation into the matter. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao informed the Assembly that an “impartial and thorough inquiry” will be conducted by police as it is an efficient force. “Telangana Police came in for praise even from top functionaries of the Union Government,” he said.Rao was speaking during a discussion on Measures taken by the government against the criminal activities of Nayeem and his associates and to maintain law and order in the state . According to a statement by Rao on the matter, Nayeem gang has committed crimes in Telangana for past two-and-half decades. “The activities of the gang which started from Bhongir (near Nalgonda) gradually spread to the entire state,” said the statement. “Several innocent people became victims of the atrocities committed by this gang. Public were forced to live in fear. During the reign of the previous governments Nayeem continued his criminal activities without any hindrance,” the statement said.After several victims approached the government, it decided to check the criminal activities of the gang with an “iron hand”, the statement said. Nayeem was killed in an exchange of fire with police on August 8. “Police recovered one AK-47 rifle, one 9 mm pistol and ammunition from the crime spot,” it said.The government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the crimes committed by the gangster, it said. “On the complaints of victims, 174 cases were registered. Police examined 741 witnesses and arrested 124 suspects owing allegiance to the gang,” it said. “During the raids conducted across the State on the hideouts of Nayeem’s gang, police seized 21 firearms, 21 cars, 26 motor-cycles and cash worth over Rs 2.95 crore,” the statement said.Police also seized documents of properties registered in the names of family and friends of Nayeem — land to the extent of 1,015 acres, house sites to the extent of 1,67,000 sq yards, and 27 residential houses, it said. The registered value of the properties seized is estimated to be Rs 143.94 crore. So far, the involvement of Nayeem’s gang is established in 27 murder cases and their involvement is suspected in another 25 murder cases, the statement said. “Chargesheets have been filed in 2 cases and another 15 chargesheets are ready to be filed in the competent Courts. As the extent of the criminal activities of the gang is spread all over the state, the investigation is still in progress,” it said. Speaking during the debate, Congress T Jeevan Reddy and TDP’s S Venkata Veeraiah sought a CBI probe into the matter. During the debate, the treasury benches and the Opposition members were also engaged in an exchange of words.
CHENNAI, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Senthil Kumar’s mother saw him being dragged off by policemen on charges of extortion. Standing outside the Vadamadurai police station in Tamil Nadu, she heard him scream for mercy. The next day she was told her son was dead.”He didn’t die, he was killed,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, recalling the events of April 2010.”And I know the name of every policeman who did it.”Kumar is one of the 591 people who have died in police custody in India since 2010, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday, calling for the strict implementation of existing laws on arrest and detention.Citing government data, the report said 97 people died in police custody in 2015 alone, and there was not a single known case in the past five years in which a police official had been convicted for a custodial death.”In almost all cases, the police passes off these deaths as suicide or a heart attack,” said Jayshree Bajoria, author of HRW’s report.”And the brotherhood kicks in to shield the guilty, who are their own colleagues. The entire system collaborates to protect the guilty policemen instead of taking action against them.”
K S Dhatwalia, spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi, the government department responsible for police, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Monday the ministry would “look into the report and take necessary action”. The report examines investigations into 17 deaths in custody between 2009 and 2015. In each case, the police did not follow proper arrest procedures, making the suspect more vulnerable to abuse, Bajoria said.Leonard Valdaris trusted the policemen who wanted to talk to his son about a theft in the neighbourhood in April 2014.But when he walked into the Wadala railway police station in Mumbai the next day, the report said, his son was “crying bitterly” and told him the police had beaten him all night and would kill him.
Three days later, Agnelo Valdaris, 25, died, HRW said.”When I saw my son in the hospital, there everything changed,” Valdaris was quoted as saying in the report. “There I saw the reality. He had been beaten black and blue with a belt.”Forms of torture recorded in the report include severe beatings with boots and belts and sometimes suspending people from their wrists. Autopsy reports examined by HRW show injuries consistent with blunt force trauma.
India has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and signed the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.According to the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure policemen are expected to prepare a memo of arrest with the date and time of arrest, ensure a medical examination is carried out on the accused, inform the family of the arrest and present the suspect before a magistrate within 24 hours.According to government records, in 67 of the 97 deaths in custody in 2015, police failed to present the suspect before a magistrate or the suspect died within 24 hours of arrest.”If police follow the rules designed to deter torture and mistreatment, deaths in custody could be prevented,” said Meenakshi Ganguly of Human Rights Watch.”India can only boast of rule of law when those charged with enforcing it are held accountable.” (Reporting by Anuradha Nagaraj, Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>A 16-year-old Dalit handball player was allegedly raped by her physical training teacher repeatedly over two years, police said on .The girl lodged a complaint against Abdul Hanif (40) of Mangrol town, currently posted as Physical Training Instructor (PTI) at a government senior secondary school, Circle In-charge (CI) Ram Singh Meena, Mahila Police Station, said.The victim has been playing for the school team for the last two years, he said. “She alleged that Abdul would take her to different cities to participate in handball events and rape her in hotel rooms,” he said, adding that he would provide fake ID for the girl to get hotel rooms.The girl in her statement said the accused raped her 7-8 times in the last two years, adding, that he last raped her on December 17 in a hotel room in Baran.The girl has been sent for medical examination and a statement before the magistrate would be recorded later on Monday, Meena said.Abdul has been booked under various sections of IPC, POCSO and SC/ST Act. He has not been arrested yet, he said.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed a chargesheet in connection with the Pathankot airbase terror attack, and named Pakistan-based jihadi group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar.Three other JeM terrorists have also been named in the chargesheet filed in Panchkula special court, reported PTI.In a pre-dawn attack on January 2, a group of heavily- armed Pakistani terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, struck at the Air Force base in Pathankot.The evidence is said to include some voice recordings and the cellular phone numbers of the attackers’ handlers which were traced to Pakistan.The attack occurred just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a ‘surprise’ visit to Sharif on his birthday on December 25 and the occasion of his granddaughter’s wedding — a move that appeared to bring the promise of better ties between the two countries in the future.However, despite the Pathankot visit of the five-member JIT team of Pak Punjab government headed by CTD Additional Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tahir Rai, no progress has been made in the investigation so far.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>An official of a private bank was shot at on Sunday and injured allegedly by an unidentified person at his residence in Hyderabad, police said. The accused went to the flat of Manmadh Dalai, the private bank official, at Shanti Nagar this afternoon and had a word with him before firing, a police official said.The banker sustained injury in the leg and he was rushed to a hospital. The victim is out of danger, said the official. Hyderabad Police Commissioner Mahender Reddy said the accused would be soon nabbed. “… He (accused) spoke in Telugu, English and broken Hindi. He ran away after he (victim) sustained injury in the leg. The way he spoke to the watchman, with the wife of the (victim) on intercom and the owner, we cannot come to a decision… It could be robbery,” Reddy told reporters.”We will definitely detect the case soon by taking into consideration whether he (accused) came in connection with bank transactions or whether he was completely an unknown person or he came through employees of the bank,” he added.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Three persons have been arrested with 600 gram of heroin and Rs 12 lakh in new high-value currency in Punjab’s Amritsar district, police said on Sunday. The three were arrested outside a Suvidha centre in Pataka market on Chamrang road before they could deliver the heroin.The counter-intelligence unit arrested Karaj Singh, Malkeet Singh and Jaswinder Singh – all residents of Ghulami wala village in Ferozepur district – following a tip-off, said Inspector General of Police MF Farooqui. Police said a total of Rs 15.49 lakh was seized from them, and out of that Rs 12 lakh were in the new high-value notes.On Thursday, Punjab police arrested Gurnam Singh and recovered 5 kg of heroin from his possession. The police said the contraband was smuggled into India from Pakistan. Gurnam has sold a part of the heroin to the three persons arrested today, police said, adding that the three had come here to deliver the heroin to someone in Amritsar. The accused have been booked under relevant sections of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>A Malayalam writer and theatre artist was on Sunday charged with sedition for allegedly showing disrespect to the national anthem, police said.Kamal C Chavara, alias Kamalsy Prana, was taken into custody on charges of insulting the national anthem in a Facebook Post. A case was registered against him by police at Karungapally in Kollam a few days ago following a complaint from Yuva Morcha activists.The case under 124 A (sedition) has been registered against the writer, police said. As per the complaint filed by the Yuva Morcha activists, Kamal had posted some excerpts from his novel “Smasanangulude Nottupusthakam” on Facebook, which they alleged was an insult to the national anthem.
ALSO READ Kerala: Six people arrested for not standing during national anthem, later released Police said Kamal would be handed over to their counterparts at Karunagapalli.The incident comes close on the heels of the arrest of 12 persons earlier this month for not standing up when the national anthem was being played before the screening of a film at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in Thiruvananthapuram.
ALSO READ Chennai: Three youths beaten up for not standing during national anthem in theatreThe Supreme Court had recently directed that cinema halls across the country must play the national anthem before the screening of a film and people should stand up as a mark of respect. The ruling, however, has received mixed reactions from legal experts with a few terming it as “judiciary’s over-enthusiasm” and others saying playing it and respecting it won’t cause any harm.
Hyderabad: The head of a bank was injured when an unidentified person fired at him at his apartment on Sunday, police said.
Manmath Dalai, Chief Executive Officer of KBS Local Area Bank, was shifted to a private hospital and he is said to be out of danger.
The incident occurred in Masab Tank in the heart of the city.
Police said a man came to the apartment inquiring about Dalai. He went to the official’s flat and after a few minutes the guard heard the sound of gunfire.
“A bullet hit the bank official in his leg. We have launched a hunt for the unidentified attacker who escaped on his motorbike,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Venkateswara Rao.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Taking serious note on the prevailing situation here following three blasts on Friday, the state Cabinet has decided to shut down Internet service in Imphal West district with immediate effect.The Imphal West District Magistrate issued an order directing telecom operators to shut down mobile data service in the district immediately until further orders.Major areas of the state capital fall in Imphal West district where the three blasts had taken place within an hour on Friday evening.The Cabinet decision came after analysis of the prevailing law and order situation and to halt spreading of rumours through social networking sites, officials said.The move was preceded by a 24-hour bandh called to protest hill based militants’ attacks on Manipur Police in the last few days in different parts of the state that left three policemen dead and 14 others injured. The militants also snatched several weapons from the IRB personnel.All measures were being taken to contain violence by deploying a large number of police personnel at sensitive areas of the state, a police officer said.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The Income Tax department has seized Rs 66 lakh cash, all in new Rs 2000 notes, as part of the anti-black money crackdown operations in Hyderabad, while Rs 18 lakh in new currency notes were seized in Delhi.The first incident, that occurred in Hyderabad on the night of December 16, was reported at the Telugu Academy in Himayatnagar when an I-T team intercepted few people who ran into a nearby apartment on seeing the team.”Search of the apartment led to recovery of Rs 36 lakh cash, all in Rs 2000 denomination. Sources of the cash are being probed into,” I-T sources said.In the second incident in the same city on December 17, department investigators along with police intercepted a speeding Honda Activa in the Tank Bund area.”Cash of Rs 30 lakh in Rs 2000 denomination was found with two persons.The case is being probed,” they said.The three accused in Noida case –Vinay Kumar from Jind, and Mahendra Kumar and Praveen Kumar from Hisar–were arrested on Saturday evening by a team of Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorist Squad and Income Tax Department.”The arrests were made following a tip off that some people were carrying a huge amount of counterfeit currency in Bhishanpura village in Sector 57,” Deputy Superintendent of Police UP ATS (Western UP Wing) Anoop Singh said.The team searched the car of the accused following which Rs 18 lakh in new currency notes of Rs 2000 was found, he said.No counterfeit or old currency notes were found. The car has also been impounded, the DSP said.The team is interrogating the accused and more arrests and seizures are expected on basis of the information, he said.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>It has been four years since the brutal gang-rape of 23-year-old paramedical student, now known to the nation, as Nirbhaya. The brutal gang rape caused mass protests in the capital and promises of change. All of these seem empty words now.On the day of the fourth anniversary of Nirbhaya on Friday, another brutal rape of a 19-year-old girl—allegedly by the taxi driver inside the cab in which she was travelling—showed that as far as women’s safety is concerned, nothing has changed.Police officials said that the girl was found in the intervening night on Friday. The victim claimed that her hands were tied and her mouth covered before she was raped. What is even worse is that the car had a parking sticker ‘Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, Krishi Bhawan’.The victim, a resident of Noida, was in Green Park for a job interview. She had to visit a friend there and around 5pm on Friday when she reached her friend’s house, she found it locked. The victim then took an auto-rickshaw and left for home.”I got down at Prithiviraj bus stop and I kept waiting there in search of a transport back home but some boys started troubling me and then a cab driver approached me. He asked me where I wanted to go and I told him I wanted to reach Noida. He offered to drop me and I sat in the cab,” said the victim in her complaint.According to the police, it was around 9 pm that the victim sat in the cab and because she was unaware about the route, she did not know where the cab driver was taking her.”He parked the car on the side in one of the by-lanes and tied my hands. He covered my mouth and adjusted the back seat of the car. He then raped me and despite me trying to raise an alarm, I could not be heard. He then got down from the car and I managed to open the window and free myself,” she said.Police officials said that around 1:30 am, the victim reached a roundabout where a police party was patrolling. She approached them and narrated her ordeal. The victim took the police officials to the location in one of the lanes behind the Basrukar market in Moti Bagh Phase-I.Officials added that the car was found at the spot but the accused had fled. The car also had a parking sticker of the MHA, and the police have started investigations on how it was procured.Medical examination confirmed that the girl was raped. She is now being counselled. The police traced the owner of the car to a house in Kotla Mubarakpur.”We were informed by the owner that he had given the car to the driver and tried to reach the accused, Avneesh, on his mobile phone. But it was switched off. Later, with the help of technical surveillance and people whom he had contacted after the crime, he was traced to one of the jhuggis, where he was drinking with his friends,” said DCP, South, Ishwar Singh. A forensic examination of the car was also conducted.Avneesh has been living in Delhi for four years and was earlier a school-van driver. He is married and has two children and hails from Ittawa.A case has been registered. Further investigations are under way.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The Delhi Police on Friday said it would try to file a chargesheet as soon as possible in the Moti Bagh rape case in which a 20-year old girl was allegedly raped in a moving car in South Delhi’s Moti Bagh area. Deputy Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh said the police would also request for a trial in a fast track court.”We will try to file the chargesheet as soon as possible and request for a trial in a fast track court.The victim had come here in search of job. The accused who drives a shared car offered to drop her. She doesn’t know much of the roads of Delhi. The driver took her to a secluded place and raped her. When the driver went to ease himself, the girl came out of the car,” Singh told the media. Singh said the police provided assistance to the victim, who later on identified the area where the incident took place.”Our road patrol car spotted her and she narrated the entire incident. The police in the car informed the police station and our emergency response vehicle. The victim identified the spot where the incident took place. We immediately sent her to hospital for medical examination,” he added.The 20-year-old girl was from Noida and came to Delhi in search of a job. The accused driver who was driving a rental car bearing a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) sticker has been arrested by the police. After searching for a job the whole day, the girl was waiting for the bus at around 9 PM last night near All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS).A Maruti car stopped by and the driver offered her to drop to Noida. It is alleged that around 11 PM to midnight near Moti Bagh area, the driver molested the 20-year-old and raped her. The girl managed to run away somehow and reached the police, who were patrolling near the South campus area.The PCR van took the victim to the police station and a medical check up was conducted. The accused driver had fled from the spot after leaving the car. The police has registered a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 357 and 376 and arrested the accused from his friend’s house.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The Supreme Court on Friday will hear the plea filed by Delhi University Professor Nandini Sundar, who has been named as an accused in the alleged murder of a tribal person in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.The Chhattisgarh government had earlier assured the Supreme Court that it will not arrest Sundar. The state government told this to the apex court division bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur and also comprising Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel while replying to the plea filed by Sundar.While telling the court that no coercive action would be taken against Sundar, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the state would submit to the court its report in a sealed cover before the next date of hearing on November 15.Earlier, refuting charges of murder Nandini Sundar said it was part of the state police’s vendetta against all researchers, journalists, lawyers and activists who have been critical of their fake encounters and mass gang rapes, adding that she would take up the matter legally. “It’s part of the Chhattisgarh Police’s vendetta against all researchers, journalists, lawyers, activists who have been critical of their fake encounters, their mass gang rapes of women and the complete lawlessness of the police. This FIR against us is absurd. We haven’t even been to the area for five months. We will be taking it up legally,” Sundar said.Sundar and 10 others have been booked for the murder of a tribal in Sukma. Sundar has been named in a complaint by the wife of Shamnath Baghel, who was killed by Maoists last Friday in his village in Maoist-hit Bastar.Baghel had been leading a campaign against Maoist activities since April and had recently formed the ‘Tangiya (axe) group’.Baghel and other villagers had in May lodged a complaint against Sundar and others for allegedly inciting tribals against the police.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>After the news of a 13-year old’s gangrape a few days ago comes yet another horrific incident of rape of a girl in India’s capital.A girl was allegedly raped in a car in a car in Delhi’s Moti Bagh on Thursday. According to News18, the 20-year-old was raped by a taxi driver whose vehicle bore the sticker of Home Ministry.The girl had come to Delhi to look for a job, as per the News18 sources. She hailed a cab from AIIMS to Noida.The driver stopped the car in an isolated place and allegedly raped her near Moti Bagh in South Delhi.The girl saw a patrolling van and raised an alarm, following the driver ran away from the scene. The cops rescued the girl and taken to the police station where she told the officials about the incident.The driver was arrested late in the night and has been put in police custody. He has not been found to be related to the Home Ministry.The police is carrying further investigation into the incident.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the state government whether it can implement the circular, issued in 2014, by Mumbai police, ensuring minors are prevented from taking part in Muharram procession and inflict injuries on themselves, across the state.The 2014, circular issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) had stated that the police will be taking all preventive measures to ensure that no follower of the Shia sect, inflict injuries on themselves. Meetings between organisers were held before the procession wherein senior members were appealed to ensure that injuries would not be inflicted. The police also kept first aid boxes and ambulances ready to meet with any unforeseen situation and video recorded the entire procession, which took place in South Mumbai.A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Anuja Prabhudesai while hearing a suo-moto public interest litigation asked the government whether it would extend the scope of the police circular to entire state and if not then provide reasons for not doing so, before the court by January 9.In 2014, the court while hearing the petition had said, “Our concern is only about injuries caused to children, we don’t want to interfere in religious rites, but at the same time we don’t want the children to be injured.” The petition had taken objection to the injuries inflicted on children during the Muharram procession. It had also sought a ban on the procession as children were being injured by sharp weapons.Further, the ‘matam’ it claimed was prohibited under the newly enacted legislation — Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifices and Other Inhuman Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Mafia don-turned-politician and SP candidate for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh polls, Atiq Ahmed, has been booked for allegedly assaulting the staff of an educational institute on the outskirts of the city, police said on Thursday.As per the complaint, Ahmed along with scores of his supporters, barged inside the premises of Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHIATS) on Wednesday and assaulted its staff members who had opposed the unlawful entry, they said.”A case has been registered against Ahmed and four of his supporters under IPC sections pertaining to rioting, unlawful assembly, dacoity and criminal intimidation, at Naini police station in the district’s trans-Yamuna region on the basis of the complaint by Public Relations Officer of the institute,” Senior Superintendent of Police, Allahabad, Shalabh Mathur said. Fifty other unnamed persons have also been named in the FIR, the SSP said.According to SHIATS PRO Ramakant Dubey, Ahmed and his supporters barged into the premises of the institute saying they wanted to meet Vice Chancellor RB Lal. The security official on duty told them that Lal was not in his chamber and requested them to come later after getting an appointment, Dubey alleged. This enraged Ahmed and he and his supporters began beating up the security official. They also thrashed other staff members who tried to intervene, the PRO said.Ahmed, who was named as the ruling Samajwadi Party’s candidate from Kanpur Cantt seat last week, denied the allegation.The SP leader claimed that he had gone to the institute “to meet the Vice-chancellor with a request to reconsider the expulsion of students — Mohd Saif and Shaqip, who were recently rusticated for allegedly misbehaving with a faculty member”.Meanwhile, CCTV footage of the alleged assault by the SP leader and his supporters was shared with the police and media. Named in dozens of criminal cases, Ahmed hogged limelight when his name cropped up in the murder of young BSP MLA Raju Pal, who was gunned down in broad daylight in one of the city’s most crowded localities on January 25, 2005.The murder case was handed over to CBI following a Supreme Court order passed in January this year.
Chandigarh: Security agencies sounded an alert in the border belt of Pathankot in North Punjab on Thursday morning after an abandoned car was found there and villagers told the police that some suspicious people were spotted earlier.
Representational image. AFP
The Punjab Police and other security agencies were carrying out searches in the area, police officers said.
Pathankot district police chief Rakesh Kaushal said that the car was found abandoned near Farwal village, close to the India-Pakistan international border. The vehicle was being searched.
It had a number plate of neighbouring troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Bamiyal sector, where the car was found, is close to the border of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir’s border with Pakistan.
Terrorists from Pakistan had infiltrated from this area earlier. The terror attack on Pathankot airbase on 2 January, was carried out by terrorists who had used the route from this sector to enter India.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Indian railways lost more than Rs 7 crore in 2015 due to destruction of its property by Naxalites. According to sources, the states in which the railways suffered the maximum losses due to Naxal disruptions were Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa.Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain disclosed the figures in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. He said railway property worth Rs 7,02,92,441 was damaged by Naxalites in 2015. The minister also informed the Parliament that the loss suffered by the railways due to Naxal activities in 2015 was less than the losses in 2014.Railways spent Rs 3,415 crore to safeguard its property in the 2014-15 and it has already spent Rs 3,833 on the same this year. The minister apprised the Parliament that the railways had taken many measures in order to protect its property but added that policing in railways was the responsibility of states. “Policing on railways is a state matter and prevention of crime, registration of cases, their investigation and maintenance of law and order is the statutory responsibility of the state police, which they discharge through Government Railway Police (GRP) of the state concerned,” Gohain said. He, however, added that the Railway Protection Force (RPF) supplements the efforts of GRP by deploying its staff on trains and railway stations.Listing measures to prevent sabotage of railway property and security of passengers, he said that railways had also installed CCTV cameras at 344 railway stations. Gohain added, “RPF personnel escorting trains in Naxalites/Maoists/insurgent affected areas are equipped with sophisticated weapons, sufficient ammunition, bullet proof jackets, walkie-talkies, dragon, search lights etc. ” Apart from the security personnel, dog squads are extensively engaged at railway stations and trains for anti-sabotage checking, said Gohain.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Video of a woman purportedly beating her minor daughter after hanging her upside down from the ceiling of their chawl residence in Khadakpada at Kalyan in the district has gone viral on social media.The woman reportedly administered this cruel punishment to her eight-year old daughter frequently as she suspected her to be stealing.Interestingly, while no police case has been registered against the woman, a case was filed against two of her neighbours as they had a spat with another resident over the issue.Some of the neighbours, who heard the girl’s cries went to the house yesterday and found that her mother was beating the girl severely. A neighbour even shot the video and shared it on social media.Some residents of the chawl, who wanted to save the girl from the clutches of her mother, were stopped by some others. An argument broke out between the two groups following which they came to blows, police said.One Sayyed Hussain filed a complaint in this connection, following which Khadakpada police booked Ganesh Ubale and Rukmani Pawar. Police have invoked IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and others against the accused duo.No arrest has been made so far in connection with the incident.
8 out of nine preliminary enquiries (PEs) have been closed by the CBI in its probe into the infamous Radia tapes, which led to a storm in political, business and bureaucratic circles in 2010. <!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Eight out of nine preliminary enquiries (PEs) have been closed by the CBI in its probe into the infamous Radia tapes, which led to a storm in political, business and bureaucratic circles in 2010. Replying to a written question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said nine PEs had been registered by the CBI in its probe in the Radia tapes, pursuant to the order passed by the Supreme Court.”Out of these, eight PEs were closed and status report filed in the Supreme Court. Remaining one PE is under enquiry by the CBI,” he said. Income Tax Department had tapped the phone of PR lobbyist Niira Radia for nearly 300 days in 2008-09 as part of its investigations into possible money laundering, restricted financial practices and tax evasion. In reply to another question on Essar Tapes, he informed the House that the matter was being investigated by the Delhi Police.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Concerned over continued disappearance of a JNU student for nearly two months, Delhi High Court directed the police on Wednesday to “scan” the entire campus, including hostels, classrooms and rooftops, of the varsity by using sniffer dogs. A bench of justices GS Sistani and Vinod Goel also asked Delhi Police to take all necessary steps without further loss of time to trace out the student – Najeeb Ahmed, saying there has been delay in recording statements of some students suspected of thrashing him a day before his disappearance.Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and its student union, JNUSU, were asked by the bench to file affidavits in two days stating they have no objection to the “thorough search” and that all assistance would be provided to the police. The court also said the police was free to search Jamia Millia University also, if required. In case of any resistance or objection to it from the varsity or its students, the agency could approach the court for permission.The bench said it was not concerned about which students union did what and it was not on a fact-finding mission regarding what JNU did wrong or right. “We are only concerned with where he has vanished,” it said. The directions came on the habeus corpus plea by Najeeb’s mother, Fatima Nafees, who has moved court to trace out her son who has been missing since the intervening night of October 14-15. The matter was listed for further hearing on December 22.The lawyer for Najeeb’s mother contended that the police was “bypassing” the abduction angle and it appeared that the agency was moving on the theory that something was mentally wrong with the student as he just walked out of the campus.Delhi Police, represented by senior standing counsel for Delhi government Rahul Mehra, refuted the allegations and told the court that it was exploring all angles, including abduction, and was not hiding any details of the probe from the student’s mother.Mehra also said four students, who are suspected of beating up Najeeb, would be put to lie-detector tests to get leads or clues about his disappearance and whereabouts. The police expected to get results in the next 10 days, he said. The mother’s lawyer, during arguments, said the manner in which emphasis of police has shifted from Najeeb being beaten up to him slapping another student and then leaving the campus, indicates that “he may even be dead”.He said that even JNU’s stand appears to focus on Najeeb slapping a student rather than him being beaten up. While he was expelled from the hostel, the others were only transferred to another hostel as punishment, he said. The lawyer also questioned the police version that an auto driver had dropped off Najeeb at Jamia university, saying no record of autorickshaw registration numbers was maintained at the gates of JNU.This allegation was refuted by the police which said it had records of autorickshaw numbers of nearly a year and the petitioner could examine it. However, the court asked how such things could help find the missing student as the “bottom line” was to trace him. It was of the view that these accusations would only lead the court to deviate from the main issue of tracing Najeeb.The court was of the view that Najeeb, who was pursuing MSc in Biotechnology from JNU, could not have just vanished and that he cannot have gone far. It was also of the opinion that the four students who were members of ABVP and accused of thrashing Najeeb, “may be aggressors”, but they might not be the abductors.It said these students, whose statements were recorded recently by Delhi Police, “do not appear to be experts” who can hide a person for nearly two months. Meanwhile, JNU told the court that a search operation of the campus was carried out by its security guards along with the police, but the cops said they only searched the open areas and were restricted from entering other parts of the varsity.On December 9, the court had slammed the police for remaining clueless about the whereabouts of Najeeb. On November 28, the High Court had sternly asked the city police to “cut across all political barriers” and find Najeeb.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday asked security forces to restrain themselves from using pellet guns and differentiate between stone-pelters/militants and their families, while noting that force was used to deal with law and order in the Valley during the recent unrest.”When we have to deal with such situation, we have to use force sometimes and I have no hesitation in saying this. We should all speak truth. We had to use force because we had to protect the lives and properties of all the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” she said. The chief minister was speaking at the passing-out parade of Jammu and Kashmir Police at Commando Training Centre here in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.Mehbooba said if force was not used, losses would have been more.
ALSO READ J&K govt to pay Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia to Burhan Wani’s kin for his brother’s death”If we had not done so, there could have been more killings, more losses. But now, our endeavour should be to see towards those people who were confined to their homes because of the situation, strikes and curfew and what they have gone through in these six months,” she said. The chief minister said now that the situation has improved and the time has come to “change our ways”. “But now I think that when the situation has improved, the time has come to heal the wounds of the people. Now, we have to change our ways. We have to differentiate between the situation as of today and what was four months back. We will have to give special focus to the youth,” she said.She said security forces have to differentiate between offenders like militants and stone-pelters and their families. “We cannot weigh every youth by the same scale, we cannot see every youth with suspicious eyes, then the situation will not improve. We have to differentiate between militants and their families. We have to differentiate militants from their parents, siblings and children and we cannot weigh them by the same scale.”If any youth is a habitual stone-pelter, we will have to differentiate between him and his family. You have to differentiate between an elder person involved in such activities and a student and see how to tackle them,” she said.Mehbooba asked the security forces to exercise restrain while dealing with law and order situations.”I hope that you will not deject me because I want J-K to prosper again, where guns or pellet guns are not used. I hope that police and security forces try to not use pellet guns. If there is an attack on your camp or police station, then I understand, but if someone throws stones at you, you should try to restrain yourselves till we find an alternative to pellet guns and ban them completely,” she said.As many as 86 people, including two policemen, have been killed and several thousand others injured in the ongoing unrest in the Valley that began on July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces. Around 5000 security forces personnel have also been injured in the clashes. The chief minister said reconciliation was the only way forward in Jammu and Kashmir. “I am of the belief that there is no way forward in J-K other than reconciliation. PSA and AFSPA are temporary and I want you to help me, our government, in creating such an atmosphere in J-K where a time will come when PSA is used only against criminals, drug addicts and smugglers and not against 40-year-old or 80-year-old or 19-year-old or students. “No one from outside can help us in doing that. We have to help ourselves and in that, the role of police is very important,” she said.”We had army and security forces here before as well, but when militancy erupted here, AFSPA had to be imposed. Now, we all have to try together to create such an atmosphere where such laws like AFSPA, PSA or other hard measures are gradually revoked. I or my ministers cannot do this alone, after the role of people of J-K, your role is very important for that,” she said. Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his decisions like paying a visit to Lahore and demonetization, Mehbooba said no other prime minister would have taken such decisions.”I am hopeful that you will help me in creating such an atmosphere in J-K where there is reconciliation and dialogue. I want to make it clear that the current PM has guts to visit Lahore and he did it despite criticism but unfortunately Pathankot (attack) happened. “It is this PM who took such a huge decision of demonetization, knowing that people will face hardships and will be angry for some time. I do not think any other PM would have taken such decisions,” she said.The chief minister said once peace is established in the state, it can act as a bridge of peace between India and Pakistan. “If you all help us in creating peace in J-K, then I assure you – the people of J-K – that the way our PM went to Lahore by keeping everything else on the side and offered a hand of friendship, and when there was unrest, he sent a (all-party) delegation from Delhi to listen to people, understand and talk, so if we can create a better situation, then we can create conditions for dialogue with everyone not only in J-K, but we can act as a bridge of peace between India and Pakistan (as well),” she said.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The Income Tax (IT) Department and Delhi Police on Tuesday night conducted a raid on a hotel in Karol Bagh area, and seized over Rs 3 crore in banned currency notes.Based on secret information, the Crime Branch conducted a joint raid with Income Tax officials at Taksh Inn in Karol Bagh and found five persons in two rooms of the hotel carrying a total amount of Rs 3.25 crore, said Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime).The five men are carriers and have been identified as Ansari Abuzar, Fazal Khan, Ansari Affan, Ladu Ram and Mahaveer SinghThe recovered amount was kept in different suitcases and cardboard box. It was found during interrogation that the money belongs to some Mumbai-based hawala operators, said the officer.”They had hired packaging specialists who pack these notes in such a manner that they are even undetectable by airport scanning machines. Experts in packaging are using some tapes and wires which pass through X-ray,” Yadav said.A day ago, unearthing a racket involved in the illegal conversion of demonetized notes, the ED arrested seven alleged middlemen and seized Rs 91.94 lakh in new currency in Karnataka as part of its money laundering probe.Officials said the agency arrested the accused, including the brother-in-law of a state government official, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>After a 24 year old physiotherapist was raped and murdered at her residence in Vile Parle on December 6, social activist and BJP spokesperson Shaina NC on Tuesday requested Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for a fast-track court for the case to bring relief to the traumatised family of the victim and ensure justice is delivered soon.She also led a delegation to the Vile Parle police station on Tuesday and interacted with the senior police inspector and other officers on the progress in the case.The victim’s parents had submitted a complaint to the Vile Parle police on Monday night asking for a probe into how the identity of the victim had become public.Several days after the gruesome crime, the police have failed to nail the culprit. They however claimed to be close to finding the guilty.The police have formed eight teams and questioned as many as 300-400 suspects, but are yet to make a breakthrough in the case.”We are investigating the case from all the angles and have questioned many people to zero in on the culprit,” said senior police inspector Mahadev Nimbalkar.The victim’s family has demanded a speedy probe and justice. Her father said, “It’s been a week now that we have only been getting assurances from the police, but the culprit has not been arrested yet. We are cooperating with the police and going whenever they calling us questioning. We have shared everything with the police, but they still say they do not have any strong evidence against anyone and are clueless.We want speedy justice and the culprit to be punished”.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>In a bid to build a water-tight case against the wife of a Lance Naik who was arrested on Sunday for mowing down two children while learning driving in the Navy Nagar area, the Cuffe Parade police will rely on a report from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) to rule out any glitch in the vehicle being cited as a defence at a later stage. The couple had bought the vehicle very recently, the police said.“Normally people do tend to claim in court that some fault had occurred in the vehicle, and hence the mishap took place. We would be sending the vehicle for RTO inspection. Their expert opinion would clarify whether the vehicle had some technical glitch or not,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone I, Manoj Kumar Sharma.The RTO inspection report would later be part of the charge-sheet that would be filed against the couple in the court, police said. “We would also be recording more statement of witnesses to bolster our case,” Sharma added.According to the police, Sangeeta Rai, wife of Lance Naik Santoshkumar was practicing driving, without a drivers license,with her husband seated beside her on Sunday afternoon.“Sangeeta could not spot two brothers, Akshansh, 13, and Abhay Dhyani, 7, and instead of applying brakes, she pressed the accelerator and went on to hit the cycle on which they were riding, killing them on the spot,” said another police officer.As per the police, after the mishap, the children were rushed to INS Ashwini Hospital in Navy Nagar. “The couple first informed the defence staff about the mishap and did not make any attempts to flee. They wanted to report the matter to the police themselves,” said the officer.Meanwhile, the bodies of the two children were handed over to their family for last rites. Their father Raviprasad Dhyani was inconsolable and had fainted after he saw the bodies of his children, and had to be admitted in a hospital.Chief Defence spokesperson, Commander Rahul Sinha, said, “It is very unfortunate that such an incident took place in the restricted area of the army. A court of inquiry has been ordered for the same. The incident could have been avoided. There are driving schools within the army, if they (couple) would have used it, the environment would have been much safer for all of them. It isn’t the first incident where a learner hits the accelerator instead of the brake. ”When asked if the army would take any action on the Lance Naik who was present in the car at the time of the accident, he added, “It depends on the authorities, whether they would take any action on it.”
The man who dragged Union Minister for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju into the alleged Rs 450 crore scam at the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited’s 600 MW Kameng Hydro Electric Project, Gujarat cadre IPS officer Satish Verma, is no stranger to controversies.
Verma, as chief vigilance officer of the Neepco, had prepared a 129-page report of the ongoing irregularities in the power project. The officer now serves as an inspector-general in the Central Reserved Police Force in Tripura.
According to a report in The Economic Times, Verma as one of the three members of the Gujarat High Court-appointed SIT to probe the Ishrat Jahan encounter differed with his fellow panelists and doubted if the 19-year-old girl shot down by cops in an alleged gunfight was at all a Lashkar-e-Taiba cadre.
The 1986-batch officer doesn’t share an enviable relationship with the Gujarat government and was even charged in January 2015 for prolonged absence from duty as the principal of Police Training College in Junagadh, a report in the DNA said.
Although the officer was granted Central deputation on request, he was apparently unhappy with his posting as the CVO at Neepco headquarters in Shillong. According to the DNA, the Central Administrative Tribunal, which he had approached seeking reprieve, refused to entertain his plea for a better posting.
His tenure in Neepco was cut short and it was not without controversy. Soon after he submitted his report involving Rijiju and his cousin Goboi, the officer was soon transferred out as IGP, Tripura sector of the CRPF as a lateral shift on deputation in July this year.
“Verma, a Gujarat IPS officer, was pulled up by NEEPCO for “unauthorised absence,” and transferred to the CRPF in Tripura soon after his report. He attributes the “absence” to his investigation.”—a report in The Indian Express said.
Appointed as Neepco CVO in August 2014, Verma soon had run-in with the company and the power ministry itself which finally got him out of the public sector enterprise by formally lodging a complaint against him with the Ministry of Home Affairs for alleged ‘high-handedness’. The official line is of course long absence from duty.
Before being shunted out of Neepco, the former CVO was given three show cause notices for unauthorised absence.
It is unlikely that the Tripura-based CRPF officer would have much popularity among colleagues from the IPS fraternity as well. His stand in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case resulted in seven IPS officers going behind bars which include high profile names like PP Pandey, DG Vanzara and GL Singhal among others.
Verma was on deputation with the Central Bureau of Investigation when he was made a member of the Special Investigation Team following court orders.
The IPS officer grabbed headlines in March this year as well when in a startling revelation, RVS Mani, former under secretary in the home ministry had told Times Now that he was coerced to file the second affidavit in the Ishrat Jahan case. Mani directly accused Verma of torturing him.
“What Satish Verma did to me was unprecedented…On 21 June 2013, Satish Verma burnt me with cigarettes,” he told Times Now. “He was not collecting evidence, but engineering evidence,” he further said. “I was chased by so many officers and people,” he said.
Verma, however, rejected the charges.
“Further, Mr. Mani has spoken about physical torture by cigarette…; I must say the CBI never tortures anybody in such a way in any of their investigations. Suppose, I had done what Mr. Mani was claiming – it would be a big misconduct and perhaps it would be a crime under law. He was an officer of the Government of India, he must be aware of the fact that he could take legal action against me (for misconduct). Also, the highest investigating agency like the CBI, which doesn’t tolerate such misconducts, would also have taken some action. Hence, the charges are baseless,” the IPS officer was quoted as saying by ABP News.
The IPS officer was also entangled with the Gujarat state over a government accommodation allotted to him but later withdrew the plea.
A report in The Indian Express said that Verma approached the Gujarat High Court to get a state government order quashed asking him to vacate a flat on Ahmedabad’s CG Road allotted to him in 2013 when he was with the state police.
However, on legal advice, the officer decided to approach the CAT after withdrawing the case from the high court. A NDTV report said that the Verma’s family occupies a flat at the Samarpan Government Colony in Ahmedabad. The state government wants the officer to vacate the Ahmedabad accommodation as he is on deputation with the CRPF now.
Tue, 13 Dec 2016-01:35pm , New Delhi , PTI
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to those who died in the terror attack on Parliament on this day in 2001 on Tuesday. He placed a wreath at the photos of the deceased in Parliament House complex.”Salutations to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the 2001 Parliament attack. Their bravery will never be forgotten,” he tweeted later.Five heavily-armed terrorists had stormed Parliament House complex on this day 15 years back but they were killed before they could enter the main building.Five Delhi Police personnel, a woman Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) official, two Parliament watch and ward staff, and a gardener were among those who lost their lives in the attack.
<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The crime branch of the Delhi Police and the Income-Tax (I-T) department have exposed a coterie of lawyers, high-profile arms dealers and middlemen after raids on the residence and offices of a city-based lawyer Rohit Tandon on Saturday night. Tandon owns the Tandon and Tandon (T&T) law firm.Raids were going on T&T offices in the Shivalik area, Lajpat Nagar and Greater Kailash-1 at the time of going to press. So far, Rs 13.65 crore, including Rs 2.6 crore in new currency, have been seized.Crime branch officials said that Tandon has links with prominent arms dealer Abhishek Verma (currently out on bail), and senior lawyer Gautam Khaitan (arrested in the AgustaWestland scam).”This raid is linked to the one on October 6. I-T officials had then recorded the statements of associates and staffers at T&T’s Greater Kailash-1 office, after which unaccounted money of Rs 125 crore were disclosed. The tax department has evidence of Tandon’s investments in properties through shell companies,” sources said.Addressing the media on Sunday, Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP), Crime Branch, Ravinder Yadav, said: “He had been on our radar since October 6.” Though the JCP claimed that Tandon had gone underground and they were tracing him, Tandon spoke to the media. “It is absolute nonsense to link me with Abhishek Verma and the AgustaWestland suspects. I have never met them. Neither they nor I even recognise each other. I am not on the run. I am not in Delhi. I am on my way back and will cooperate with the I-T department,” he said.Tandon also claimed that he did not have any clue about the money recovered during the raids.Stacks of new and old currency were found in a cupboard and a duffel bag in T&T’s Greater Kailash office. “We also found a counting machine,” Yadav said. I-T officials said that every nook and cranny of the Greater Kailash office was covered with security cameras. “When we questioned the staffers, they said Tandon had installed a software in his mobile phone and would have been watching the live feed of raids and searches,” they added.Sources said that the investigating teams are now analysing Tandon’s client list. “He claims to be a corporate lawyer, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, but no big firm has hired him. I-T officials told us that he is more of a liaison… a fixer. We have seized his office computers and laptops. Clients don’t pay in cash to prominent lawyers,” said an investigating officer.”We are probing whether the seized money was parked by businessmen and lawyers,” an officer said. Teams are also questioning other partners of T&T, all of whom claimed that they had no clue about the money found at their offices.Police sources claimed that Tandon was in touch with some high-profile defence dealers and lawyers representing defence lobbyists. Tandon set up T&T in February 2014. He had ambitious plans to set up offices in Dubai and Hong Kong as well. He was, however, never seen in courts or arguing before the Bench.For nearly a decade starting 2005, he successfully ran a law firm called Zeus. Some of his Zeus colleagues later joined T&T. His brother-in-law still runs Zeus. A low-key person, Tandon is not seen in parties or high-profile gatherings, and prefers to meet and entertain clients at his plush farmhouse in Chattarpur.”While questioning his staffers, we came to know that his parties are understated, without any glamour or Page 3 celebrities, but he is well connected. It is interesting that he knows both Bhandari and Khaitan,” said a Crime Branch officer.”He came to the limelight when he bid and got the ownership of a 12,000-sq ft residence in Jor Bagh. The deal was worth Rs 100 crore. Once the deal went public, everyone wanted to know who he was,” he added. In July 2014, Tandon bought a bungalow from the Ruia family via a special purpose company called Devlin Corp, in which he and his son are co-directors. The Delhi Police have informed both ED and I-T Department about the raids and a report will be submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday.I-T notices to 1,200 people in SuratSurat: The I-T department in Surat has issued notices to 1,200 people who have deposited Rs1 crore and above in their bank accounts after November 8. The notice has 20 questions and the account-holders have to respond within a week.Interestingly, according to the I-T department, only 55 persons in the city have an annual income of Rs 1 crore and above. – DNA Correspondent
