Crime file: Youth held for raping minor; Tollywood producer held for alleged rape and much more
Crime file: 24-year-old youth was held on charges of abducting and raping a 12-year-old girl
Visakhapatnam: A 24-year-old youth was held on charges of abducting and raping a 12-year-old girl at Rolugunta area in Visakhapatnam district.
Inspector of police, Kothakota police station, P.V. Krishna Varma said S.K. Babu, an electrician in Rolugunta mandal, fell in love with a minor girl of the same village and even had sex with her promising that he would marry her, with consent of both of their families.
On November 24, he took the girl to Vijayawada after the girl’s parents refused their marriage proposal. Police said that the duo spent a few days at Babu’s relative’s house in Vijayawada and returned to the village recently.
On learning about the development from their daughter, the girl’s parents lodged a complaint against Babu with Rolugunta police on Friday night stating that he kidnapped their daughter and raped her.
Based on the complaint, Varma and his team registered a case against Babu under various sections of IPC, including Section 376 and arrested the accused. Police said having sexual relationship with a minor girl would be considered as rape.
Next: Tollywood producer held for alleged rape
Tollywood producer held for alleged rape
Hyderabad: Tollywood producer Chand Pasha allegedly lured an aspiring actress and raped her continuously for six months promising a lead role in his new movie. Pasha also took around Rs 5.5 lakh from the 20-year-old victim to produce the movie.
The victim lodged a complaint against the producer claiming that he had cheated her by promising to marry her. The cops arrested Pasha and booked a rape case against him.
Pasha’s brother and friends also allegedly threatened to kill the complainant if she revealed the matter to the police or the media. The cops booked a case against the four for criminal intimidation. The police said the victim is pregnant.
Chand Pasha, 25, who produced a low budget movie named Love Syllabus, stayed with the victim in a flat at Uppal. The victim was lured by Pasha when she went for auditions. “I went for the auditions of Love Syllabus. Pasha promised me a lead role and lived with me for six months,” said the victim.
Next: Gold seized at RGIA
Gold seized at RGIA
Hyderabad: Customs officials at the Rajiv Gandhi Internat-ional airport have arrested a passenger for allegedly smuggling gold worth about Rs9.27 lakh on Saturday. The passenger, identified as Syed Maqsood, a native of Karnataka, had hid the gold in his shirt. He was held after a check at the immigration.
According to an official at the airport, customs officials became suspicious about Syed Maqsood and checked him and his baggage thoroughly. The officials found gold hidden in his garments.
Syed was taken into custody by the customs officials and booked.
Next: Cops crack counterfeit note racket, 4 arrested
Cops crack counterfeit note racket, 4 arrested
Hyderabad: The police has busted a fake currency racket and has arrested a gang of four at Shapur Nagar in Jeedimetla. The arrested men were identified as Ravi Kumar, Shyam Sunder, Vishnu Vardhan and Satish. All of them are residents of Shapur Nagar and work for private firms in Jeedimetla.
On Friday, the cops were alerted about the gang, which had met at a room in Sagar Hotel. Police raided the premises and nabbed them. The gang was active since the last six months and had procured computers and printers. They had developed a software to print the fake currency. “They printed fake notes worth Rs 1 lakh. The gang had no criminal history,” said SI T. Narasimha Raju.
The cops are investigating if they had any links with inter-state gangs. However, officials confirmed that they had not started using the currency.
The police seized fake currency worth Rs 1 lakh, a computer and printer from the gang. They were handed over to the Jeedimetla police.
Next: Minors gangrape 15-yr-old schoolgirl
Minors gangrape 15-yr-old schoolgirl
Nizamabad: A 15-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped by five minor boys in the Ergatla village of Morthad mandal. The incident came to light on Saturday, after the victim’s grandfather lodged a complaint with the police.
The girl was reportedly, gangraped at the home of one of the accused on Thursday. The incident was recorded on cellphone by the boys.
Police said that a Class X girl was close to an Intermediate first year boy of the village. The boy invited her to his home on Thursday. Four other friends of the boy blackmailed the girl because of the couple’s “closeness” and gang raped her.
Shockingly, the minor boys, all Intermediate students, recorded the incident on their cellphones. They also threatened her saying that if she revealed the incident to others they would circulate the clippings.
The girl did not inform anybody about the incident for two days. But on Saturday she had severe stomach-ache and told her mother. The girl’s father had passed away, and both mother and daughter we-re living with her grandfather in Ergatla village.
Following the complaint by the girl’s grandfather, Bheemgal CI Waheedu-ddin and Morthad SI G. Santosh Kumar rushed to the Ergatla on Saturday and arrested the five boys.
“Of the five boys, two are suspected to be adults. Their ages will be checked,” said CI Waheeduddin to this newspaper.
Next: Two ATM thieves nabbed by cops
Two ATM thieves nabbed by cops
Bangalore: A 33-year-old habitual offender, who was trying to steal money from different ATMs in and around the city, and his associate have been arrested by the North East division police.
Byra Raju alias Rajesh alias Raju of Kanakapura and his aide V. Babu (24), a cab driver, were trying to steal money from UCO Bank and HDFC Bank ATMs in Avalahalli limits in Hosakote district when they were caught. But no cases were registered in this case.
The police said Raju, a PUC dropout, was working as a cook at various hotels in K.R. Puram, Kalasipalya, Whitefield and Banashankari. While working at a hotel in Kalasipalya in 2003, he, Suresh and Kumar murdered Manjunath, a security guard at the same hotel, and tried to steal money from the hotel safe. He was sentenced to a life term. After serving nearly six years of his term, Raju was released on bail, the police said.
In 2003, he tried to steal money thrice from Punjab National Bank on Commercial Street. In 2009, he tried to steal jewellery from Sunanda Jewellery Store in Malleswaram. In 2011, in Mahadevapura, he stole nearly 9 kg of silver ornaments from Bhavani Jewellers in Mahadevapura.
Next: Father, daughters attempt suicide over neighbours’ slur
Father, daughters attempt suicide over neighbours’ slur
Bangalore: Severely depressed over taunts from his neighbours against his caste and two daughters, a 45-year-old man and his daughters attempted suicide in Peenya police limits on Friday night.
Nagaraj alias Ramanna and his daughters Shashikala (21) and Sowmya (19) consumed food laced with poison in an attempt to end their lives. Minutes later, Nagaraj’s wife Dhanalakshmi walked into the house, saw the three writing in pain and rushed them to a hospital nearby. All the 3 are out of danger and recovering.
Nagaraj lives with his family and mother Lakshamma in Ravindranagar. They were allegedly being targeted by their neighbours Bylappa and his wife Chandrika. It is alleged that Chandrika would taunt the victim’s family every day that the two girls had remained unmarried. The accused would also threaten the family that they would file a false dacoity case against the family if the police were approached. The two families fought regularly. Nagaraj claimed that the verbal abuse had been going on for over a year. Unable to bear the taunts, the 3 attempted suicide around 1.30 am on Saturday.
The Peenya police have registered a case against Bylappa and Chandrika and have arrested them.
Next: Man killed by gang near Tasmac shop
Man killed by gang near Tasmac shop
Chennai: A 30-year-old man was hacked to death by a gang, allegedly over a feud, at a Tasmac outlet near MKB Nagar in the early hours of Thursday. Durairaj, a resident of Sanjeev Nagar in Vyasarpadi worked in a bar attached to a Tasmac outlet in MKB Nagar, police said. On Wednesday night, after work he was walking towards his home when a gang following him, started attacking him with sickles and knives and left him to die near P.V Colony junction. The gang immediately fled the scene in a vehicle kept ready. Durairaj was bleeding to death and a few passersby who noticed him, admitted him to the Government Stanly Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries in a few hours, police said,
MKB Nagar police registered a case and primary investigations reveal that Durairaj had got into a quarrel with a local rowdy gang in the bar, who had allegedly demanded that he serve free drinks to them; he refused to oblige them. This is suspected to be the reason behind the brutal attack, a senior official said. The gang is also in hiding and this only fuels suspicion, he added. We are also investigating other angles, such as if Durairaj had any past rivalry when he was working as an auto rickshaw driver. For now, no arrests have been made, a police official said.
next: Student runs car over 2, woman dies
Student runs car over 2, woman dies
Chennai: A 25-year-old youth, son of a Madras Varsity employee, was arrested on Thursday after his car knocked over two women, killing one of them near Koyambedu.
Police sources said that Sridhar, an aeronautical student at a private college and a resident of Anna Nagar had gone to CMBT terminus to pick up his friends who had come from Bengaluru. Sridhar’s father is a section officer at the University of Madras, police added. Saradha, 44, a flower vendor was crossing the road along with Mohana, 60, when Sridhar’s car hit them, police said. While Saradha died on the spot, Mohana is at the Government General Hospital in a serious condition. Koyambedu Traffic Investigation police have registered a case and are investigating.
Confusion over identity of boy found dead in well
Confusion over identity of boy found dead in well
Chennai: Confusion prevails over the identity of a body, which was salvaged from a well in Pallikaranai on Saturday morning. The body, found in a decomposed state, was recovered at Jaladanpettai near Pallikaranai, the police said.
The Pallikaranai police who rushed to the spot said that the boy was initially identified as a 15-year-old who had gone missing from Royapettah two days ago. The boy, a resident of Mylapore, a Class X student, had not returned home from school. The parents had registered a missing person’s complaint with the Mylapore police station on Friday.
A school bag with books and a leave letter with the missing boy’s name were found beside the well, the police said. The parents were summoned to the Chrompet Government Hospital to identify the body, but they could not confirm if it was their son though the books recovered from the spot were his.
The body was in a decomposed state and that might have confused the parents. It was also well past evening by the time they were summoned for the identification exercise. The police will wait till Sunday before going ahead with the autopsy after the parents identify the body. They suspect the boy to have gone for a swim in the well and drowned.
Next: 4 smuggle Rs 70L gold in rectum
4 smuggle Rs 70L gold in rectum
Chennai: Four persons who attempted to smuggle gold into the city by hiding it in their rectum were detained by customs officials at Chennai airport since Thursday night. Airport sources said 1.8 kg of gold, worth Rs 70 lakh was seized from them.
According to a customs official, of late, cases of gold smuggling to India have surged since the phenomenal rise in its value in the country. “Special teams have been formed and are on the vigil across all airports in the country to identify smugglers,” the official added.
On Friday morning, Mohammad Kabir, 30, from Ramanathapuram, who had visited Colombo on a tourist visa, was detained by customs officials on suspicion.
Baggage checks yielded nothing and the man was whisked away for a private check where it was found that a gold biscuit was pulverised, stored in a package and kept in his rectum.
With the help of a medical team, the package was removed and 300 gms of gold seized from the man, an official said. Similarly, 500 grams of gold was seized from a 40-year-old man from Tiruchy who arrived by a Sri Lankan Airlines flight on Friday. Customs officials also added that two other men from Ramnad and Thanjavur who had employed the same modus operandi, were held on Thursday.
They had come by an Air India flight from Singapore and 1 kg of gold was seized from them, the sources said. According to a customs official, the new guidelines do not allow arrests for smuggling of gold valued less than Rs 20 lakh: the smuggled gold is merely seized from the smugglers.
Primary investigations revealed that all four men were carriers who were promised money if they successfully smuggled the gold. Customs officials have been interrogating them to identify the brain behind the smuggling.
Girl crushed to death by harvester machine
Girl crushed to death by harvester machine
Vellore: A young girl’s life was snuffed out when she accidentally got caught in a harvester machine and got crushed while she playing close by. The horrific accident happened on Saturday morning near Thiruppathur.
It was like any other Saturday for class 5 student, Jothika, daughter of Sivakumar, a resident of Kollapatrai village in Merkathiyanur, near Thiruppathur, when she was playing behind a harvester machine close to her house.
Her father Sivakumar, an agricultural labourer, was attending to some other work to harvest paddy with the machine. But the peace and quiet of the day was shattered when the harvester driver, without knowing that Jothika was playing behind the machine, switched it on.
The girl’s dupatta got caught in the machine and she was lifted by the giant wheels of the harvester. Her hands got severed and worse, the running harvester pushed her out only after she was crushed to death, said Thiruppathur police station SI Murugesan.
The body of the girl was taken to the Thiruppathur GH for post-mortem. A case has been registered.
Next: Woman gets caught in her own trap
Woman gets caught in her own trap
Chennai: The police on Saturday arrested a 68-year-old woman, who in an attempt to frame her relatives with whom she had a property dispute, sent a bomb threat letter (as if planned by them) to the Arakkonam railway station.
Police sources said Thilakavathi, a native of Lakshmi nagar in Melmaruvathur, had a property dispute with her brothers Krishnan and Venkatesan. On December 2, the stationmaster at Melpakkam, near Arakkonam, received a bomb threat, following which he approached the police. The government railway police investigations led to the woman through the postal stamp on the letter. The letter said three persons, Mahesh, Rajesh and Ashok Kumar, sons of her brothers, planned to blow up the Melapakkam railway station.
Special police teams, led by Egmore deputy superintendent of police S. Thillai Natarajan, narrowed down the suspects list to Thilagavathi after enquiring with the trio whose names were written in the letter.
Thilagavathi had signed her name in Telugu in the letter and after verifying it, the police arrested her.
Next: Court accepts kids’ evidence in mom’s murder
Court accepts kids’ evidence in mom’s murder
Chennai: Observing that there is no prohibitory provision preventing courts from accepting the evidence of a child, the Madras high court upheld an order of a lower court which convicted and sentenced a man, who murdered his wife suspecting her fidelity, to undergo life imprisonment, based on the evidence given by their two minor children who witnessed the murder.
Dismissing the appeal filed by George Arul Thangam, challenging the order of a sessions court in Kanyakumari, dated September 21, 2010, a division bench, comprising justices S. Rajeswaran and T. Mathivanan, said, "The witness deposition of the two children, aged 11 and 9 years, should not be brushed aside, as it was clear, unambiguous and cogent."
According to the prosecution, George married Pushpalatha in 1997 and they had three children. He worked abroad for several years and returned to India in 2007.
He turned alcoholic and refused to go to work. Pushpalatha started working in a nursing college at Sangankadai as a warden. They had frequent quarrels since he allegedly suspected that she was in an extramarital relationship.
On April 6, 2009, the two children woke up to the screams of their mother, and saw their father dropping a pestle on her and killing her. The children narrated the sequence of events before the trial court, which awarded a life sentence to George.
Upholding the sessions court's order, the bench said, “There is no prohibitory provision preventing courts from accepting the evidence of a child. If the evidence adduced by a child is free from moonshine or a shadow of doubt, the court can very well place trust upon such evidence to maintain conviction. All that is required in considering the evidence of a child witness is scanning it carefully. If it is found that there are no flaws or infirmities in the evidence of a child, there is no impediment in accepting the evidence of a child. A meticulous analysis of the children's deposition in this case reveals that they had not been tutored or moulded by the prosecution.”
Next: Woman held for stealing baby from incubator
Woman held for stealing baby from incubator
Vellore: The Gudiyattam town police on Saturday afternoon arrested Fathima (22), wife of Mubarak and resident of Neeli Kolli street, Dharnampettai, Gudiyattam, for stealing a male baby from the incubator of Gudiyattam GH.
According to Gudiyattam town police inspector Irudayaraj, Kavitha (33), wife of Kumaresan and residing at Kidangu Ramapuram, Mohalur, delivered a male baby on December 4. Due to some health problem, the baby was kept in the incubator of the hospital.
On Saturday afternoon, when Fathima entered the incubator room and took the baby out and tried to run away with the child, a duty nurse noticed the act and raised an alarm.
The nurse also caught Fathima by her arms and others in the hospital surrounded the culprit. She was handed over to the police who registered a case and are investigating.
Next: Illegal recruitment agency shut, 3 held
Illegal recruitment agency shut, 3 held
Kochi: Kochi city special branch police on Saturday shut down a recruitment agency at Thoppumpady that had illegally been running for the past few years.
The manager and the executives of the firm have also been arrested. The arrested were identified as Rejanu (26) of Mavelikkara in Alappuzha district, Arun (25) of Mavelikkara and Biju (39) of Chithrappuzha near Trippunithura in Ernakulam. Biju was the manager of the agency.
According to police, the firm named Gousi Tours and Travels at Kazhuthumuttam near Thoppumpady had been running without a licence. “The executives had also been collecting money, passports and certificates from the people by promising jobs abroad.
We seized 68 Indian passports, various certificates and hard disks from the company’s office during the raid,” the police said. Police said they also took case against the owners of the firm.
“Malappuram natives Sadique Ali, Moideen Kutty, Anitha Kumari and a Kayamkulam native, Leena, are also booked. They will be arrested soon,” said Ananthalal, the sub inspector of special branch police.