Former BJP minister G Janardhana Reddy’s tony residence near Basaveshwara Circle has been attached by the government, in connection with the Ambidant Marketing Pvt Ltd cheating case, in which Reddy was arrested last year.

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police had invoked the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act, and sought information from the public about movable and immovable assets belonging to the accused. As per the Act, properties belonging to the accused who default on return of deposits can be attached, auctioned and the money returned to the depositors.

As Janardhana Reddy is also an accused in the case, the CCB had investigated the properties in his name. “We had information about his properties, and most of them were registered in his name, and had already been attached by the CBI and ED in his old cases. Only his residence ‘Parijatha’, next to Chalukya Hotel, was found fit to be attached. Procedures have been completed and Reddy’s house is attached. It is valued at `5 crore,” a senior CCB officer said.

Beside Reddy’s house, property worth Rs 40 crore belonging to Syed Farid Ahmed, the proprietor of Ambidant Marketing Pvt Ltd, has also been attached by the agencies, along with other accused persons. It may be recalled that CCB police had arrested Janardhana Reddy in November last year, on charges of receiving D20 crore from Farid Ahmed, promising to help him in a case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The CCB, which has completed the probe, is ready with the chargesheet along with the list of properties attached. Sources said, they will submit it to court once the budget session ends on Friday. “As there are chances that political parties would take up the issue in the Legislative Assembly or Council if the chargesheet is filed now, as Reddy is an accused, we have been directed to submit it to the court only on Friday or later,” a CCB official said.

MThe first additional district and sessions court here awarded ten years jail term to a person who tried to kill his wife by stabbing her in the abdomen for not giving him money to buy liquor. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 16,000 on him.

The person who was handed down this sentence happens to be Ravi (44) from Belur taluk, Hassan district, who used to stay at Permannur Chembugudde here in the past. He had tried to murder his wife, Rekha, on the night of July 9, 2017. The court which found him guilty of the murder attempt charge in its verdict delivered on Monday, awarded him sentence.

Ravi, a liquor addict, used to pester his wife for money often. On the night of July 7, 2017, he had demanded money from his wife to buy liquor. When she refused to part with money, he stabbed her with a knife. Rekha, who suffered deep injuries, was admitted into hospital. She had recovered in course of time.

Daughter of the couple, Rekha’s mother, and Yogeesh, a neighbour, were eyewitnesses for the incident.

The then Ullal station police sub-inspector, Prakash Kumar, had investigated the case and filed charge sheet in the court. The court, which examined 11 witnesses, 13 documents and three circumstantial evidences, also recorded the statement of Rekha, who appeared in person. Judge of the court, Sharada B, declared Ravi guilty. Public prosecutor, Raju Poojary Bannadi, had represented the prosecution.

The court awarded ten years jail term for murder attempt and Rs 10,000 fine, a year’s imprisonment for deriding wife with obscene words, ten years jail for inflicting serious injuries apart from fine of Rs 6,000 and a year’s jail term for posing death threat.

If he fails to pay fine, he will have to undergo additional 18 months inside prison.

Ravi had earlier been working for a hospital at Deralakatte but he was dismissed for being a liquor addict and not working properly. Rekha works as home guard. The court also directed district legal services authority to disburse compensation to Rekha as per prevailing provisions.

Nasheman News : A Bengaluru businessman was arrested in Mumbai and jailed for six months here for allegedly defaulting on payment of Rs 11.94 crore as income tax and penalty arrears, said a top official on Tuesday.

“For the first time in Karnataka, a Bengaluru businessman was stopped on Monday at the Mumbai airport from leaving the country and arrested for allegedly not paying Rs 11.94 crore income tax and penalty arrears,” said the Income Tax Department in a statement here without naming the defaulter.

A tax recovery officer sent the defaulter to the city central jail for six months after he failed to arrange for paying the tax arrears, including penalty and interest after he was brought from Mumbai under police custody.

Nasheman News :  The Punjab Police has arrested two men who had allegedly gang-raped a 21-year-old woman in Ludhiana district.

Police officials said on Wednesday that raids were being conducted at various places by different police teams to nab the remaining accused.

Those arrested so far include Jagroop Singh and Sadik Ali, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Ranbir Singh Khatra said. Both accused are residents of Ludhiana district.

Khatra said police investigations have revealed that six men were involved in the gang rape of the young woman on February 9 night when she was driving along a canal in a car with her male friend.

The victim had alleged that she was gang raped by at least 10 men after she and her friend were attacked and abducted.

Both were taken in their car to an isolated plot in the Issewal area of Ludhiana district and the woman was gang raped while her friend was held captive.

Police officials said that raids are being conducted to arrest the four other accused. These include Ajay Kumar, Syed Ali, Surma and another one (not yet identified but relative of Surma).

All the suspects are in the 25-30 age group, police officials said.

The police registered a case of rape and under other sections of the Indian Penal Code against the accused.

Khatra had earlier admitted that there were lapses by the local police in dealing with the matter due to which the gruesome crime took place.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Vijay Rattan was suspended for dereliction of duty as he had failed to investigate the matter seriously and did not inform his seniors about it after receiving a complaint about the incident.

The accused had called up a friend of the rape victim’s friend and demanded a ransom of Rs 2 lakh. The friend approached the police following the call but the police did not take immediate action.

The couple were set free on Sunday following which they complained to the police.

Nasheman News : A court here on Tuesday granted permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct lie-detector tests on seven friends of late actor Kalabhavan Mani.

On February 8, Jaffer Idukki, Sabumon and five others had presented themselves before the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate, offering to undergo the tests as demanded by the CBI that was probing the popular actor’s death in 2016.

According to the guidelines, the test can take place only with the concurrence of those who are to undergo it.

Mani, 45, who acted in some 200 films in Malayalam and other languages, was admitted to a hospital in Kochi on March 4, 2016 for an alleged liver ailment. He died two days later.

Forensic experts said an insecticide (Chlorpyrifos) was found in the actor’s blood but the police failed to crack the case.

Mani was staying in a 30-acre farmhouse near Chalakkudy, away from his home, his wife and daughter, where these friends were believed to be present on the day the late actor fell ill.

After his death, the hospital authorities reported the presence of an organophosphate pesticide in the body, leading to speculation that Mani might not have died a natural death.

Ever since, his family has been running from pillar to post to ascertain the real cause. In 2018, the Kerala government too sought a CBI probe.

Nasheman News :  A 35-year-old sanitation worker was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl at a public toilet in west Delhi’s Naraina area, police said on Monday.

Police said the accused, identified as Kailash, 35, was arrested from a public toilet on Monday after the victim’s parents reported the incident to the police.

The incident occurred on February 6 when Kailash spotted the minor girl, 5, at a public toilet and took her to his room, where he sexually assaulted her. After raping her, he threatened to kill her if she disclosed about the incident to her parents.

The victim’s parents work as labourers and stay at JJ Camp in Naraina. 

“After returning from their work, they saw the girl bleeding. The victim’s mother brought medicines from a government dispensary. However, when the victim’s health started deteriorating, she took her to Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital, where the doctors confirmed sexual assault,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Monika Bhardwaj said.

“Later, the victim’s parents reported about the incident to the police, following which the accused was arrested,” she added.

A harrowing case of domestic violence has come to light in Bengaluru’s Nelamangala area, where a 38-year-old woman’s husband allegedly demanded that she enact scenes from porn videos, and also threatened to kill her. On Saturday, the Nelamangala Town police arrested 42-year-old Vasanth Kumar, an English lecturer, for allegedly sexually abusing Nirmala*, assaulting her, demanding dowry and threatening her life.

Speaking to media, the Nelamangala police said that Nirmala and Vasanth Kumar got married on June 14, 2004. Nirmala, who used to work for a local NGO, had quit her job over a year ago in order to take care of her two children.

She was unable to work long hours and look after the kids. She decided to quit her job and had allegedly told Vasanth that he would have to manage the finances for a while until she could find a job which did not involve putting in too many hours of work.

“Ever since the day she discussed this with Vasanth, he began fighting with her. Initially he would call her a freeloader and would mock her. He would not chip in and help look after the kids. A few months ago, he informed her that the property they had bought together would now be signed over to his brother’s name. He said that she had no standing in it because she was not helping out financially,” the police alleged.

Over a month after Nirmala quit her job, Vasanth allegedly stopped bringing in groceries for her and the children. He would allegedly ask her to bring money from her parents and fight with her for not having got any dowry when they got married.

“This was not all of it. Vasanth would call her names in front of the children. He would constantly address her as “prostitute” instead of using her given name. When she confronted him about it and asked why he was insulting her in front of the children, he told her that the children were not his as she had been sleeping with multiple men. He even demanded that a DNA test be conducted,” said Veena*, Nirmala’s relative.

The harassment only increased as the days passed. Soon, Vasanth allegedly began telling his children that Nirmala has AIDS and that they should not touch her, lest they would get infected too. On the night of February 6, however, Vasanth’s harassment escalated.

“He came home at around 6.30 pm and her sister’s children were there. He waited for them to leave and he once again began telling his children that Nirmala is a prostitute and that she has AIDS. He dragged her into the room, showed her a porn video, asked her to wear only her underwear and act like the woman in the video,” Veena claimed, adding, “When Nirmala refused, Vasanth tore her clothes, scratched her arms and breasts. He fished out a knife from his bag and threatened to kill her. He bit her all over her body. He chased her to the kitchen and hit her with the stick used to make ragi mudde. She bit him and escaped from there. She reached her mother’s house in torn clothes and then she was taken to the hospital.”

On February 7, the Nelamangala Town police arrived at the hospital to take down Nirmala’s complaint and an FIR was registered against Vasath Kumar. Vasanth, who was absconding, was arrested on Saturday by the police.

He has been booked under sections 498a (domestic violence), 323 (assault), 324 (assault with a dangerous weapon), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. When asked why sections under the Dowry Prohibition Act were not applicable, the police said that on interrogation, the sections would be added before filing the chargesheet.

*Name changed to protect privacy

Nasheman News :  The Punjab Police on Monday conducted raids at various places in Ludhiana district after a young woman alleged she was gang-raped by 12 men at a farmhouse near Jagraon town after she and her male friend were attacked and abducted.

No arrests have been made so far.

The victim, aged around 20 years, told the police that she and her friend were going in a car from South City area of Ludhiana city towards Issewal village on Saturday night when their car was attacked with bricks by two men on a motorcycle.

The attackers, who were joined in by three others, then got into the car and beat up the man (male friend) and took the car to a farmhouse near Jagraon town, around 170 km from here.

They also called up a friend of the man from his mobile phone and demanded a ransom of Rs 2 lakh. The friend approached the police following the call but the police did not take immediate action.

The couple, who were abducted, were allegedly beaten up at the farmhouse and the woman was gang-raped by five men.

She alleged that her attackers called seven other men who also sexually assaulted her.

The couple were set free on Sunday following which they complained to the police regarding the gang-rape and the abduction.

The police registered a case of rape at the Mullanpur Dhaka police station. Police officials said that raids were being conducted to nab the people behind the heinous crime.

Senior police officers from Ludhiana district reached the crime spot (farmhouse) on Monday as police teams started investigating the incident.

Nasheman News : Zee Media Corp Ltd has filed a criminal defamation case against the Foundation for Independent Journalism which runs the news portal ‘The Wire’ on charges of publishing defamatory articles.

Zee filed the case through advocate Vijay Aggarwal on February 7 under sections 499, 500, 34 and 109 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the Foundation as well as Gulam Shaik Budan, Anuj Srinivas, M.K. Venu, Siddharth Vardarajan and Sidharth Roshanlal Bhatia.

The case was filed in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Anand at the Patiala House Court here. 

The offence is punishable with up to two years of imprisonment. 

The main allegation in the case is that articles dated January 24, 2019 were published wherein false and defamatory allegations against Zee Media Corp Ltd were levelled.

The next date of hearing is on March 28.