Archives for February 2017

Gurugram: A woman working with NGO Delhi Study Group has accused former Delhi BJP MLA Vijay Jolly, who heads the organisation, of raping her inside a resort on the Delhi-Jaipur expressway earlier this month. An FIR has been registered at the Women Police Station at Sector 51 here.

‘Couple threatened me’

The woman’s complaint, however, comes four days after Mr. Jolly registered a case against her and her husband. He has accused the couple of trying to extort money from him. The couple was booked on charges of extortion and criminal conspiracy at the Kherki Dhaula police station on February 17.

Rubbishing the allegations, Mr. Jolly told The Agencies that the woman had been demanding money from him on the pretext of her husband’s illness. Later, the couple had threatened him. “They were on the run ever since a case was registered based on my complaint. Now, they have lodged a case as an afterthought,” said Mr. Jolly.

In her complaint, the woman, a resident of Neb Sarai, said that she had come to Gurugram on February 10 with Mr. Jolly to attend a meeting at the Aapno Ghar resort. They reached the resort around 1.30 p.m., after which they went into a room.

I was drugged: woman

The woman said that she lost consciousness after drinking tomato juice. The FIR said that she found herself undressed when she regained consciousness two hours later. She then accused the former MLA of raping her.

Later, she returned to Delhi with Mr. Jolly, vomiting twice on the way, said the FIR. The woman got down at a traffic signal in Mehrauli and took an auto-rickshaw to her house. She then confided in her husband, after which the duo lodged a complaint with the Gurugram Police on Tuesday.

The woman has claimed that she knew the former MLA for almost three years.

The Gurugram Police remained tight-lipped on the matter.

(Agencies)

Kochi: The prime accused in the abduction and assault of a popular Malayali actress, ‘Pulsar’ Suni and his accomplice VP Vijeesh, were taken into custody as they entered a local court building to surrender today in Ernakulam, six days after the incident created a nationwide outrage.

“We have taken them into custody. We had deployed our men in the city. They managed to get them,” Ernakulam Range I G P Vijayan told PTI.

Visuals aired by news channels showed the duo being forcefully taken into custody by police as they were about to enter the Ernakulam Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court building to surrender at around 1.10 PM today at lunch break.

Advocates of the accused made a vain bid to prevent police from entering the building and taking them into custody. They were later taken to Aluva police club for questioning.

The lawyers charged the police with forcefully taking their clients into custody from the court room itself.

Police allegedly entered the courtroom wearing helmets.

The developments come a day after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asserted that every effort was being made to trace the key accused in the abduction and assault of the actress.

Police had earlier arrested four accused in the case.

“Police action has been fruitful and government views the matter seriously,” Vijayan, who also holds the Home portfolio, had told reporters yesterday.

Opposition parties had alleged that the delay in arresting the culprits was a direct indication of the protection they were receiving by the ruling dispensation.

The actress was allegedly sexually assaulted inside her car for two hoursby the accused, who had forced their way into the vehicle and later escaped in a busy area in Kochi.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: An SBI ATM here dispensed fake 2,000 rupee notes, and police said on Wednesday that they had identified the culprits.

The incident was reported in south Delhi where a State Bank of India ATM dispensed the fake notes on February 6, with “Children Bank of India” printed in place of Reserve Bank of India, according to the FIR accessed by IANS.

The notes also had numerous glaring discrepancies including the words “Churan lable”, a “PK” logo and “000000” serial number.

It also read “Guaranteed by the Children’s Government” printed in place of “Guaranteed by the Central Government”.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajiv Ranjan Singh told IANS that the vendor who supplied the cash to the ATM and the persons who inserted the fake notes had been identified.

The officer put the number of fake notes dispensed by the ATM at three.

Asked why no arrest had been made so far, Singh said: “The case is still a matter of investigation. The moment everything is done, arrests shall take place.”

On Wednesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the fake currency.

“A Prime Minister who can’t even print notes properly; how can he run the country? He has reduced the whole nation into a laughing stock,” the Aam Aadmi Party leader tweeted.

Rohit, a customer care executive who got the notes, reported the matter to the police.

In his complaint, Rohit said he tried to withdraw Rs 8,000 at around 7.45 p.m. from the ATM at the T-Point at Tigri in Sangam Vihar but all the four 2,000 rupee notes turned out to be fake.

After informing the ATM guard posted there, he made an official complaint to the police which sent a sub-inspector to the ATM.

The sub-inspector withdrew another 2,000 rupee note from the ATM which too turned out to be similarly fake, after which the police registered an FIR.

A case of cheating and related offences has been filed against unknown persons under sections 489-b, 489-e and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, the police said.

Experts say it is possible for an ATM to dispense even a simple sheet of paper if its size is the same as the currency notes.

“Technically, yes. ATMs are not equipped to read the security features of notes. Only the size needs to be the same,” K. Srinivas, Managing Director BTI Payments, an RBI-licensed firm that operates cash dispensers not owned and managed by banks.

(IANS)

London: Amnesty International today criticised the Indian government for using the “crude, colonial-era” sedition law to “silence” its critics.

In its annual human rights report, the UK-based NGO said, “Human rights activists and journalists (in India) faced intimidation and attacks from both state and non-state actors.”

The report mentioned a crackdown on civil society organisations with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act or FCRA being repeatedly invoked to “harass organisations that receive foreign funding”.

“The crude, colonial-era sedition law was unleashed to silence government critics,” it added.

“Caste-based violence and vigilante cow protection groups harassing and attacking people in states including Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka in the name of upholding laws prohibiting the killing of cows were also highlighted as areas of concern,” it said.

“Tensions between India and Pakistan intensified following an attack by gunmen on an army base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir state witnessed months of curfew and a range of human rights violations by authorities,” the report claimed.

The report also highlighted the consequences of the Indian  government’s move to ban large currency notes.

“A ban on India’s largest currency bills, intended as a crackdown on the country’s black market, severely affected the livelihoods of millions,” the report notes.

On a global level, the report covering 159 countries condemns the growth of “politics of demonisation” which was breeding division and fear around the world.

Salil Shetty, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, said: “Today’s politics of demonisation shamelessly peddles a dangerous idea that some people are less human than others…

Divisive fear-mongering has become a dangerous force in world affairs.

 “2016 was the year when the cynical use of ‘us vs them’ narratives of blame, hate and fear took on a global prominence to a level not seen since the 1930s.”

At a regional level in South Asia, the rights group claimed a worrying rollback of human rights as various governments invoked sovereignty and security to threaten freedoms.

Amnesty International has warned that 2017 will see the ongoing global crises exacerbated by a debilitating absence of human rights leadership on a chaotic world stage.

Syria, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Central America, Central African Republic, Burundi, Iraq, South Sudan and Sudan as among the crises areas and its annual report documents war crimes committed in at least 23 countries in 2016.

((PTI))

Bengaluru: Convicted serial killer and Jayalalithaa fan KD Kempamma, also known as Cyanide Mallika, was shifted to Hindalga prison in Belagavi, north Karnataka, earlier this week.

Cyanide Mallika had last week made headlines because she was lodged in Parapanna Agrahara prison, where AIADMK chief VK Sasikala Natarajan is currently put up. What’s more, Mallika was held in the cell next to Sasikala’s.

According to reports, Mallika was shifted out of Parapanna Agrahara because her presence there was considered by some as a threat to Sasikala’s life.

‘Cyanide’ Mallika, possibly the country’s first woman serial killer, is in jail for killing six women. She allegedly identified rich women frequenting temples in and around Bengaluru, befriended them and killed them using cyanide before making off with their jewellery. She was arrested in 2008 and convicted in many cases.

While security officials felt that Mallika posed a threat to Sasikala in the Agrahara jail, media reports suggested the two had formed a cordial relationship.

“In fact, she would not allow Sasikala to stand in queue during meal time. She used to bring the food for her,” a report said quoting sources.

The jail officials were uneasy at this development, and Mallika was shifted one day without informing her.

Incidentally, Sasikala is housed in the same cell where another high-profile murderer, advocate Shubha Shankarnarayan, had been lodged for years. Shubha was convicted of murdering her techie-fiance in collusion with her boyfriend and his aides in 2003, said reports.

The shifting of Cyanide Mallika from the Bengaluru jail comes even as the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu, under new CM Edappadi Palanisamy, is said to be making efforts to get Sasikala shifted to a prison in Tamil Nadu.

(Agencies)