Crime and Accident

Kolkata, January 24: Asian Games gold medalist Pinki Pramanik, who was injured in a road accident near Purulia, was today shifted to city-based B R Singh Hospital.

According to coach of the West Bengal Athletic Association Ashish Sengupta, Pinki’s condition was out of danger as the athlete was able to move today.

But the condition of her father, Durgacharan Pramanik, is still “very critical” and is being treated at the Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur.

New Delhi, January 24: Residents of a neighbourhood in the national capital today today claimed that goons of a property dealer came and attacked people in the area.

Residents of Vasant Kunj alleged they came in 50 cars and attacked people, including women, and opened fire.

They claimed the property dealer wanted to usurp a number of plots in the locality.

However, no police case has been registered in the matter so far.

–Agencies

Kollam (Ker), January 24: A leopard that strayed into a farm in a village close to forest in the district was caught and handed over to wildlife officials.

The male feline that made its way into the farmyard got trapped in netted fencing and found it difficult to disentangle at Edamon Chittlialmkode village, close to Thenmala hills, official sources said.

The sight of the feline soon drew a crowd around it. Some of the local people informed the police and Wildlife officials of the plight of the leopard.

Jodhpur, January 24: A woman IAS officer was allegedly attacked by some youths who also misbehaved with her when she was reviewing preparations for ongoing Panchayat polls in the district.

The incident happened yesterday at Naino ke Dhani when SDM (Jodhpur) Anandhi was reviewing arrangements for round two of the Panchayat elections in Rajasthan, police said.

During her visit to the area, the SDM spotted a jeep outside a house, they said adding the vehicle, which had election posters pasted on it, had no registration number.

New Delhi, January 24: Prominent criminal lawyer R K Naseem, who appeared for Jessica Lal murder convict Manu Sharma, was today seriously injured when one of his relatives, a former BJP MLA, with whom he has a property dispute allegedly attacked him.

The incident took place in Dabri of south-west Delhi this afternoon when police came to arrest Vinod Sharma, Naseem’s brother-in-law with whom he has a property dispute, a senior police official said.

Hyderabad, January 24: The Andhra Pradesh Police today ordered an inquiry into charges of gang-rape of four tribal women allegedly by certain policemen at a remote village in Visakhapatnam district.

A police team nabbed nine Maoists from Bhaluguda village in Visakhapatnam district on January 22. Yesterday four tribal women, who are their relatives, approached a local BSP leader L Rajarao, alleging they were gang-raped by the police party, a senior police officer said.

New Delhi, January 24: The inquiry ordered by the government into the faux pas of a former Pakistani air force official’s photograph appearing in a government advertisement would be headed by additional secretary Sudhir Kumar.

The probe was ordered by minister of state for women and child development Krishna Tirath after a hue and cry over the advertisement brought out by her ministry on the girl child day.

Tirath initially said the ad was only symbolic and the message was important, but later said if there was any oversight anywhere then action will be taken against those involved.

Srinagar/Jammu, January 24: Ahead of the Republic Day, security forces seized a huge cache of arms and explosives, including over 15-kg RDX and 150 grenades, in two separate operations today, scuttling militants’ plan to disrupt the national event in the state.

The seizures, which included two Pak-made Anti-Personal Mines and 13 mortar bombs, were effected in Baramulla district in Kashmir valley and Rajouri in Jammu region, police said.

Rajkot, January 24: Senior IPS officer Geetha Johri, a member of the Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team probing cases related to the Godhra riots, was injured when her car overturned near Limbdi town in Surendranagar district, police said today.

Johri, who currently holds the post of Rajkot Police Commissioner, was returning from Ahmedabad when her car overturned after hitting a cow on the NH 8 late last night, they said.

Johri was accompanied by her daughter when the incident occurred, police said.

Lucknow, January 24: A man was today arrested for allegedly killing his wife and four minor daughters by setting them on fire in Lakhimpur district.

Ramanand Gobre, who set ablaze his wife Sangita (33) and four daughters Tulsi (8), Laxmi (5), Kajal (3) and an infant girl, was arrested from Dhaurehra, police said.

Charred bodies of Sangita and the girls were found in their house in Behanganpurwa village in Dhurehra on January 22.

Ramanand lodged an FIR alleging that his neighbours Ram Swaroop and Ram Milan killed his family members.

Jaipur, January 24: Eight persons, including two women, were today killed and seven others injured when a jeep in which they were travelling collided head-on with a truck in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district, 132 km from here.

“The mishap occurred near Mangaliawas village on Ajmer-Beawar road when the jeep which was on its way to Ajmer city from Beawar town collided with the truck in the afternoon,” police said.

Lucknow, January 24: A five-year-old girl was allegedly killed by an exorcist and his wife in Bulandshahr district, police said here today.

“Gudia was killed by Prahlad Rajput and his wife Pushpa during an exorcism ceremony in Chandiyana village of Bulandshahr district yesterday, they said.

Police said that Prahlad and his wife have been arrested in this connection following recovery of the girl’s body.

–Agencies

New Delhi, January 24: A man, accused of murdering a person for not repaying a loan of Rs 200, was arrested 14 months after the commission of the crime, police said today.

Anil Kumar, 36, was arrested near the Parcel Gate of New Delhi Railway Station recently on a tip off. He had allegedly killed one Ravi, who had not returned Rs 200 to him, in November 2008 a senior police official said.

Kumar had beaten up Ravi in Nabi Karim and he died on the spot. Kumar than fled from the scene soon after the incident.

Jaipur, January 24: District collector, Udaipur, Anant Kumar had constituted a four member committee headed by doctor Sharda Goyal of RNT Medical College to conduct inquiry into the case.

However, the inquiry committee in its report said no negligence was found on the part of doctors. The report also said no cut was found on the arm of the child but it could have happened as the baby was premature — seven and a half-months-old.

Patna, January 24: A young man, who was accused of raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl, was burnt alive in a village in Bihar’s Madhubani district, police said today.

Babloo Paswan, in his early 20s, was set afire by some people of Daiya Kharbar village in Madhubani district on Saturday.

“Police have lodged an FIR but no arrests have been made in this case,” Madhubani Superintendent of Police Manju Jha said.

He said the half burnt body of Paswan was recovered Saturday night.

Imphal, January 23: A powerful bomb, by suspected militants to attack security personnel, exploded in Imphal West district, police said on Saturday.

The bomb went off at a roadside at Thouda Bhabok on Airport Road on Friday but no one was injured, they said adding that it might be the handiwork of militants to attack security personnel passing through the area.

Security and police forces were deployed heavily in view of the boycott call for the Republic Day celebrations by some insurgent organisations.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Srinagar, January 23: The gunbattle between militants and security forces in Kulgam district of South Kashmir intensified this morning. The exchange of fire between the two sides began last evening.

The firefight broke out in village Rampora-Qaimoh, 80 kms from here, when police assisted by security forces cordoned the village on specific information that three militants were hiding in a house.

—PTI

Koraput (Orissa),January 23: Two securitymen were injured in a landmine blast triggered by Maoists in the district today. A team of the elite anti-naxal force Special Operation Group (SOG) was returning after conducting combing operation when the landmine exploded at Jugipalur, police said.

Two SOG jawans were injured in the explosion, district Superintendent of Police Anup Sahu said. In another attack, armed Maoists blew up a mobile phone tower in Machhkund area of the district besides ransacking the tehsil office and setting afire official records and documents, he said.

Mumbai, January 23: A driver and a cleaner of a school bus were arrested for allegedly outraging the modesty of three schoolgirls on Saturday.

The girls, residents of the Thakur Complex, Kandivli (E), were on their way back home when they were allegedly molested inside the bus.

The police did not take any action, the parents alleged.

—Agencies

Lucknow, January 23: A Maoist guerrilla was arrested from a forest in Uttar Pradesh’s rebel-hit Sonbhadra district, police said Saturday.

Anil Kushwaha, who allegedly worked for Maoist Munna Vishwakarma’s gang, was arrested Friday from Duddhi forest in Sonbhadra, about 250 km from state capital Lucknow. The gang operates in parts of Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

‘Kushwaha is a native of Sonbhadra and has admitted that he worked for Jharkhand’s Maoist leader Munna Vishwakarma,’ police inspector Surendra Tiwari told reporters.

New Delhi, January 23: Four robbers were arrested on Thursday for allegedly assaulting a constable after he tried to arrest them in Northwest Delhi.

Police said on January 19, Sombir Singh, posted at the Mahendra Park police station, was on duty when a man told him that four people had snatched his mobile phone.

Singh chased the four but managed to catch one of them. While he was probing him, the other three returned and beat him up.

“They hit Singh on his head with a sword and fled. He was rushed to hospital and a case was registered against the four.

Srinagar, January 23: A terrorist of the Hizb-ul-Mujahadeen was killed in a gunfight with the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, police said Saturday.

Tariq Anwar alias Azhar was killed late Friday in the mountainous area of Nava Pachi in Kishtwar, about 250 km north east of Jammu.

‘The terrorist’s hideout was raided by a joint party of the Indian Army and the state police and after a brief gunfight, the terrorist who ranked high in the hierarchy of the militant outfit was killed,’ a police spokesman said.

Mumbai, January 23: It’s yet another inter-country child custody tiff before the Bombay high court. A US-based father has filed a habeas corpus petition seeking the production of his daughters, aged five and four, who have allegedly been kept in India by their mother.

Som, 38, who has filed the habeas corpus petition through his father, has stated in his petition that there is no valid reason for his wife Mira, 33, to refuse to return to USA with the children.

Gandhinagar, January 22: In a shocking incident, a three-year-old girl, studying in nursery, was allegedly made to strip by her teacher at a convent school in Vadodara here Friday.

Outraged parents lodged a protest with the principal after the child reached home and narrated her ordeal.

The parents claimed that their child was upset and has refused to go back to school.

The teacher reportedly took the step as the child was talking in the class and her school diary was in tatters.

Lucknow, January 22: A debt-ridden labourer attempted suicide after killing his wife and four daughters by setting them ablaze in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur district, police said Friday.

Ramanand (35), a resident of Dhaurara town in Lakhimpur, around 200 km from here, allegedly set ablaze his wife Sangeeta and four daughters, aged between two months and 8 years, late Thursday.

“We came to know about the incident today (Friday) when Ramanand’s neighbours approached us after they found five charred bodies at his home,” inspector Yogendra Singh told reporters in Lakhimpur.