About 50 Indian star tortoises were flown to Bengaluru on Monday, two years after they were allegedly smuggled from India to Singapore, an animal welfare organisation said on Tuesday.

“The tortoises were smuggled two years ago into Singapore illegally where they were confiscated by the authorities. With the cooperation from Indian and Singapore governments, the tortoises have returned to Karnataka,” Delhi-based Wildlife SOS said in a statement here.

Even though the star tortoises, which are native to India and Sri Lanka, Awere allegedly smuggled two years ago, they have been kept under the protection of Singapore-based Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), a non-governmental animal welfare body, till they could be returned to India.

“It took two years to get required permissions from the government authorities to fly these tortoises back to Karnataka, from where they were smuggled according to the investigation by authorities,” Wildlife SOS press officer Arinita Sandilya told IANS.

The animal welfare organisation worked with the Indian Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Karnataka’s Forest Department, Customs officials from Singapore and India and ACRES so as to bring these tortoises back.

The star tortoises have been kept in isolation (quarantined) at the Bannerghatta National Park in the city’s southern suburb and will remain there for three months before being released into the southern state’s forests.

Wildlife SOS, however, did not disclose the name of the forest the tortoises will be released to, so as to keep the poachers away.

Once the tortoises complete their three-month quarantine period, Wildlife SOS plans to radio tag (attaching radio transmitters to track location) and monitor the animals for their survival.

The Indian star tortoise, which is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, is among one of the most trafficked tortoise species in the world owing to the unique star-like radiating pattern on their shell.

It is poached for its meat and use of body parts in traditional medicine and for exotic pet trade.

“We are relieved that the tortoises have returned to where they belong,” the co-founder of Wildlife SOS Kartick Satyanarayan said in a statement.

“This landmark project not only helps augment the endangered populations in India, but will also demonstrate the commitment from the governments of India and Singapore and their zero tolerance to illegal wildlife trade,” it added.

The tortoises were transported in specially designed boxes for the five-hour-long flight journey from Singapore to India.

Singapore Airlines had transported the tortoises for free, the statement said.

IANS

A man allegedly committed suicide on Monday after killing a woman in a flat located in South Delhi, police said.

The incident occurred at Suman Colony of Chattarpur Extension when a woman, Parboni, informed the local police around 7.30 p.m that her flat was locked from inside and that she suspected foul play, police said.

“When the police forced open the door, it found a woman’s body having a deep cut on her throat and of a man hanging from the ceiling fan”, Deputy Commissioner of Police Vijay Kumar said. The man was identified as Avishek Mondal, Kumar said.

“During investigation, it was found that Parboni had been living with her friend in the rented flat for the last couple of months.

Initial probe suggested that there was a fight between the couple and Avishek allegedly first killed the woman and then hanged himself from the ceiling fan. They were in a relationship, police said.

IANS

 A 39-year-old Muslim cleric has been arrested for carrying a bullet while attending Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Janta Darbar, police said on Tuesday.

“The accused, Imran, along with 12 other Imam and Maulavi on Monday had visited the Delhi Chief Minister’s Janta Darbar seeking an increase the salary of the Delhi Waqf Board staff,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Nupur Prasad said.

“During frisking a security officer found a bullet in Imran’s wallet. He was handed over to the police,” Prasad said.

At his interrogation, Imran revealed that he lives in Seelampur and worked as a caretaker in the Bawli Wali mosque in Karol Bagh.

He told the police he had found the bullet in a donation box three months ago and kept it in his wallet. He intended to throw it away in the Yamuna waters but later forgot.

He has been booked under the Arms Act, the officer said.

IANS

The city police have arrested six persons, including two minors in connection with the gang rape of a woman at Bengre beach last week.

The detained are all fishermen and a search is on for the other culprit.

According to the police, though the incident took place a week ago, the woman came forth to lodge a complaint only on Monday night.

Hearing the woman screaming for help, locals gathered. The group of seven then fled away.

The woman came forth to lodge the complaint only after much persuasion from the police, said sources.

PTI

 A man was brutally murdered by his neighbour in the town’s Sector 83 after he objected to his relation with his wife, police said on Monday.

Vikram Yadav was attacked with a steel rod multiple times by his neighbour Ramesh Yadav alias Tinu near a roundabout in Sector 83, police said, adding
Tinu (30) is married with two children.

Police said the victim was a driver with a senior doctor attached to Haryana Animal Husbandry Department in Gurugram.

Complainant Ramesh Kumar, elder brother of the victim, told the police that Vikram, his wife Geeta and two children lived in a two-storeyed house in Sikanderpur (Sector 85).

According to the FIR, Vikram married Geeta in 2007. Ramesh Kumar alleged in his complaint that the accused and Geeta had an illicit relation.

Kumar said that he and his brother had objected to the relationship several times and tried to settle the issue, but failed.

“Tinu called my brother near a chowk in Sector 83 on Sunday evening and smashed his head multiple times in the middle of the road,” Kumar said in his complaint.

The victim was first rushed to a private hospital in Gurugram and later he was referred to AIIMS in Delhi where he succumbed.

Tinu is absconding, police said, adding his wife is a teacher in Kendriya Vidyalaya and is posted outside Haryana.

“The victim’s body was handed over to the family late on Monday evening after a post-mortem examination,” Investigating Officer Sandeep Kumar said.

 The Rs 260-crore ponzi scamster Vinay Shah of Gujarat was arrested by the Nepal police near the capital Kathmandu on Monday, Gujarat police said on Monday.

Shah had been in hiding at his female friend’s house in Nepal, sources said.

Haresh Dudhat, Superintendent of Police (SP), CID crime, said, “Vinay Shah has been arrested from Pokhra near Kathmandu. He was in hiding with his woman friend Chandaa Thapa, who works in a spa in Delhi. Right now he’s in Nepal police’s custody and we already have our teams in Nepal who will get him in our custody after carrying out due procedures.”

According to Dudhat, Shah was arrested under various sections of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act as he carried more currency than is permissible. The Nepal police found Rs 30 lakh cash with Vinay and he was handed over to the revenue department of Nepal.

As India and Nepal are signatories of the extradition treaty, the CID Crime will take Shah’s custody after the Nepal authorities give their clearance, he said Dudhat.

“Going through the call details recordings (CDR), our investigations showed that the Shah couple could be hiding in Nepal. We were in constant touch with the Nepal police, and had sent a team to Nepal two days ago. The Nepal police called up our DGP, CID (Crime and Railways) to inform him of the arrest,” said Dudhat.

Shah carried with him currency of over Rs 30 lakhs in US dollars, pounds and Euros,” said Dudhat.

“The CID crime has recorded over 100 testimonies in the case. After the Shah couple disappeared, the police have recovered Rs 43 lakh from his house and around Rs 38 lakh in different bank accounts,” said Dudhat.

“We are quite confident that the duped people would recover their money. We also want people to come forward and register their complaints,” added Dudhat.

Vinay and his wife Bhargavi had allegedly cheated thousands of investors to the tune of Rs 260 crore through their companies, Archarcare LLP and Digi Locals, police said.

The Vastrapur police has filed three complaints in the case against the Shah couple and two others. The Gujarat government subsequently formed an SIT of CID Crime to investigate the scam.

IANS

  The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Karnataka police for not doing anything to unearth the murder of the rationalist M.M. Kalburgi outside his home in Dharwad on August 30, 2015.

“What have you done so far? You are just fooling around,” said the bench of Justice Fali Nariman and Justice Navin Sinha asking the state police to spell out how much time it would require to complete the investigation.

The strong observation from the bench came in the course of hearing of a petition by Uma Mallinath Devi, the widow of Kalburgi, seeking an SIT probe into his murder.

The top court had on January 10 sought the Centre’s response on a plea for the SIT probe.

Uma Devi had requested that the SIT be headed by either a retired judge of the top court or of a High court.

The notice was also been issued to CBI, NIA, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa governments.

IANS

 Three bike-borne men on Monday looted Rs 37 lakh from the cashier of a cocking gas agency here in an upscale residential area of Gurugram, police said.

The incident occurred in the South City Phase 1 around 12 noon. The gas agency belongs to BJP district spokesperson and local councillor Kuldeep Yadav’s family.

“Sushil Lathar, cashier of Urvashi Enterprises, was about to move in a Creta car towards a bank to deposit Rs 37 lakh in cash. Three men came on a bike and snatched the bag containing the amount after threatening to shoot him,” said a senior police officer.

“The cash could not be deposited in the bank the previous three days due to bank holidays. I sent my cashier to deposit the amount but the money was looted outside my house,” Mahender Singh Yadav, owner of the LPG agency, told the police.

Cashier Lathar said he may have seen two of the three miscreants earlier somewhere but could not recognise them.

 At least 18 Afghan policemen were killed after the Taliban attacked a convoy in Farah province, an official said on Monday.

“Militants attacked a police convoy in Juwayn district on Sunday evening. The initial information found that 18 police personnel were killed,” the official told Xinhua news agency.

He said several police officers went missing after the attack.

Several militants were also killed and injured but their number could not be verified.

By : Pramesh S Jain

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), investigating the murder of firebrand journalist Gauri Lankesh has submitted additional charge sheet of 9235 pages against 18 accused person to Special court for KCOCA,(Karnataka Control of Crimes Act) here on Friday.

The additional charge sheet was carried out by Four policemen in a metal trunk box containing 9,235 pages of chargesheet to court on Friday evening and submitted before principal city civil and sessions court Judge Shivashankar B Amarannavar.The Principal city civil and sessions court is designated court to hear cases under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA).

This is the additional chargesheet filed nearly 180 days after SIT had filed the first chargesheet in the case this May.

The 9,235-page document reportedly mentions the involvement of Hindu extremist group Sanathana Sanstha and names 18 people.

Earlier the police had filed a 650-page chargesheet in the case, eight months after the cold-blooded murder of the journalist-activist.

We submitted an additional charge sheet against 18 accused persons to the Special Court.It is 9,235 pages.We have also sought permission to investigate further, investigation officer at SIT told media persons.

Firebrand editor of the Gauri Lankesh Patrike,Gauri was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwarinagar on the night of September 5, 2017.

It was only in February that the police made the first arrest in the case after it nabbed KT Naveen Kumar,who was allegedly given the task of procuring a gun and bullets for the crime.He was held, the police said, just as the group was allegedly plotting the murder of rationalist KS Bhagwan.

Subsequently, the SIT hit upon the plot and with this breakthrough,was able to arrest Sujith Kumar alias Praveen,who then led it to the alleged masterminds Amol Kale and Amit Degwekar,both from Maharashtra, a police officer said.Also apprehended was Manohar Edave,a resident of Vijayapura,who allegedly played a key role in recruiting the killers.

In June, the SIT arrested Parashuram Waghmare, who it believes, shot Lankesh.The others key accused arrested are Amit Baddi and Ganesh Miskin, who are suspected to have ferried Waghmare to her home on a two-wheeler, and Rakesh Bangera, who allegedly trained the shooter.

While the police matched the bullets recovered from the crime scene with those recovered from the house of rationalist MM Kalburgi,who was also shot dead at his home in Karnataka’s Dharwad in August 2015,it is still not in possession of the gun used to commit the crimes,according to a senior official of the SIT,Speaking on the condition of anonymity.

However, we are now in possession of the two-wheeler used in the commission of the crime,” the officer said.Around 80% of the investigation is complete at this stage.

Amol Kale, one of the first persons arrested by the SIT, has been named as the main accused in the case.The SIT said its investigation had found that Kale was the kingpin who meticulously planned the conspiracy, took care of logistics, provided gun training, organised finance and shelter, and finally ensured that the final assault took place.

The SIT,however, is still hunting for a man named Nihal alias Dada who it believes will tie up the link between the killings of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M.M. Kalburgi and Lankesh.

After the Karnataka SIT cracked the Lankesh case, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the CBI were able to find crucial links to the unsolved murder of Pansare.

The special teams of both states collaborated and shared evidence and found that one Sudhanva Gondhalekar was allegedly involved in plotting terror attacks in Maharashtra and was also spotted in CCTV footage near Lankesh’s house.

The Maharashtra ATS conducted multiple raids and arrested Vaibhav Raut, a Sanatan Sanstha sympathiser, and two others. These arrests also provided much-needed intel and leads to the Karnataka SIT.

The SIT in October had secured the custody of Vasudev Suryavamshi, first arrested by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in connection with the Nalasopara explosive case.He is suspected to be the one who supplied the motorbike on which the alleged killers of Gauri used for the murder to reach the crime scene. He was also incidentally suspected to be involved in the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.

The SIT has mentioned that during the course of its investigation,it did not find any personal or direct link between Lankesh and the killers, confirming the suspicion that she was killed as part of the bigger conspiracy to silence rationalists in the country, special public prosecutor Balan told media persons.

The chargesheet also explained that the larger conspiracy was to strategically eliminate 43 other liberals and rationalists, some of whom survived attempts to kill.

Of the 18 people in the SIT’s custody, the major success has been the arrest of Parshuram Waghmore, who the police believe is the one who shot Lankesh at point-blank range.The other accused who played an important role were Rajesh Bangera,Amit Baddi,Ganesh Miskin,Manohar Edave,Sujeet Kumar, Amit Degwekar,K.T. Naveen Kumar and Mohan Naik.All the 17 accused were arrested in the case and remanded in judicial custody.

The trail of the case may likely start in January 2019 based on two charge sheets.