Archives for September 2024

Mysuru: A 65-year-old man died and 12 others were hospitalised after consuming contaminated water in Bettahalli village of Saligrama taluk, Mysuru district.

The deceased, identified as Govindegowda, was initially treated at the Saligrama Community Health Center for symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, along with others affected. Due to the severity of his condition, he was transferred to Hassan District Government Hospital, where he passed away despite efforts to save him.

The contaminated water was reportedly supplied to the village through a tanker. Health officials from the Taluk hospital have since visited the village to conduct check-ups on residents.

The accused, Shubhang Jain, a native of Haryana, allegedly stole Rs 56 crore worth of cryptocurrency while working as a software developer at Cipher Technologies, headquartered in Rajajinagar in Bengaluru, between May 2021 and April 2022, as reported by Deccan Herald.

CID sources revealed to the publication that Jain’s role dealt with market analyst and finance, providing him with access to the private crypto wallets owned by the company. The stolen assets reportedly included Bitcoin, Binance, and Tether.

In April 2022, Cipher Technologies found the cryptocurrency theft during an audit and filed a complaint at a police station. The case was then transferred to the CID.

An officer told DH that tracking Jain was highly challenging as he hardly stayed in one place and did not have a fixed phone number. Known for staying only in luxury hotels and living lavishly, Jain was eventually tracked down in Navi Mumbai.

New Delhi: Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid walked out of Tihar Jail on Wednesday, a day after a court here granted him interim bail till October 2 in a terror funding case so that he can campaign in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls.

Talking to reporters outside the jail, he said that he would continue to fight for his people. Rashid’s sons and supporters welcomed him after he walked out of the prison.

Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, has been in jail since 2019 following his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror funding case.

“He was released from jail at 4.15 pm,” said a senior prison official.

He defeated former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Baramulla. Rashid’s outfit Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) is contesting the assembly elections.

“I was in jail for five-and-a-half years. I am committed to fighting for my people. I am coming back to unite people and not divide them,” he told reporters outside Tihar.

“I want to bring everlasting peace to Kashmir and prove that Kashmiris are not stone pelters. But we will not compromise with our political rights,” he said, adding, “I will fight the prime minister’s narrative of Naya Kashmir.”

National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said Rashid has been granted bail to fetch votes from the people of Kashmir and not to serve them.

About People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti describing Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party as a proxy for the BJP, Abdullah said while he was being very cautious on the issue, “it is good that she has stated openly what many people were thinking”.

Lashing out at Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, Rashid on Wednesday alleged that they have “destroyed” Kashmir.

Polling for Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in three phases — September 18, September 25 and October 1. The results will be declared on October 8.

Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh ordered Rashid’s release on interim bail on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and a surety of the like amount. He also imposed certain conditions on him, including that he would not speak to the media about the case.

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has directed the state’s police force to track a woman who has filed nine separate complaints over the past decade, accusing various individuals of sexual harassment, criminal intimidation, and other offences, including under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Section 498A of IPC refers to — husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty.

Justice M Nagaprasanna, presiding over a single-judge bench, ruled that police stations must maintain a record of the woman’s complaints and exercise caution when she attempts to file additional ones.

The court emphasised that before any new complaints are registered, a preliminary inquiry must be conducted to prevent the repeated filing of false cases.

The judge noted: “This is to stop the indiscriminate registration of crimes against innocent men. We have seen ten such cases, and this is to prevent the eleventh.”

The court made this ruling while allowing the petition filed by the woman’s husband and in-laws, who sought to quash charges she had brought against them, including allegations under sections 323, 498A, 504, 506, and 149 of the IPC.

This marked the tenth complaint the woman had filed in the last ten years.

Senior Advocate Murthy D Naik, representing the petitioners, submitted evidence of the woman’s previous complaints, which were verified by the prosecution.

The court reviewed all nine prior cases, noting that several men had been wrongfully accused, detained, and later acquitted due to a lack of evidence or cooperation from the complainant.

The court observed that the woman’s actions seemed aimed at harassing the accused, describing her behavior as a “honey trap” targeting over ten men.

The judge remarked: “The complainant has been filing cases without any valid reason, leading to arrests and trials, all of which have ended in acquittals.”

In the present case, the woman had accused her husband and his family, including a 75-year-old woman who had never met the complainant, of abuse.

The alleged incidents occurred between August 28 and September 22, 2022. The court found the allegations to be baseless, and stated that allowing the case to continue would endorse the complainant’s questionable actions. The court’s ruling aims to prevent further misuse of the legal system and to protect innocent individuals from false accusations.

Muzaffarnagar (UP): Two men have been arrested for allegedly molesting a 16-year-old Dalit girl and passing casteist remarks against her, officials said on Tuesday.Taseen and Shalim, both in their mid-20s, were arrested on Monday after the victim’s father filed a complaint against them at the Sikheda police station, according to Circle Officer Rupali Rao.

According to the father, the accused tried to molest his daughter and made casteist remarks at her on September 8, CO Rao said.

The victim’s father stated in his complaint that the accused also threatened the girl, warning her not to tell anyone about the incident or she would face dire consequences.

Based on this complaint, police registered an FIR registered against the accused under BNS sections 74 (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 78 (stalking), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), section 7/8 of POCSO Act and SC/ST atrocities prevention act, police said.

Washington: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused the RSS of considering some religions, languages and communities of being inferior to others and said that the fight in India is about this and not about politics.

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha was addressing a gathering of several hundred Indian Americans in Herndon, a Virginia suburb of Washington DC, on Monday.

“First of all, you have to understand what the fight is about. The fight is not about politics. That is superficial,” Gandhi said as he asked one of the Sikh attendees in the front rows to give his name. “What is your name, brother with the turban,” he asked.

“The fight is about whether a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear his turban in India or a kada in India. Or he, as a Sikh, is going to be able to go to Gurdwara. That’s what the fight is about. And not just for him, for all religions,” said the Congress leader.

Gandhi is currently on a four-day visit to the United States. His first stop was in Dallas which began on Saturday, and he arrived in Washington DC on Monday.

Criticising the RSS for their policies and vision of India, he said, “What the RSS is basically saying is that certain states are inferior to other states. Certain languages are inferior to other languages. Certain religions are inferior to other religions. Certain communities are inferior to other communities. This is what the fight is about.”

“…that is the ideology of the RSS. Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Manipuri. These are all inferior languages. That’s what the fight is about,” he said, asserting that these issues end up in the polling booth, the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha.

“But the fight is about what type of India we are going to have,” he said.

He asserted that regardless of the region one belongs from, “all of you have your history, all of you have your tradition, all of you have your language, and every single one of them is as important as any other one.”

Gandhi also said that the BJP has no “understanding” of India.

“India is called a union of states. And in the Constitution, it’s written clearly. India, that is Bharat, is a union of states. It means it’s a union of languages, traditions, histories, etc,” he said.

“They say this is not a union. These are separate things. Among these, only one is very important. And whose headquarters is in Nagpur,” he said, in a veiled reference to the RSS.

Addressing the diaspora, Gandhi called them “ambassadors of India”. “You’re the bridge between these two great unions of states. You make us very proud,” he said.

“We understand the difficulties and struggles that you have had to deal with. It’s not easy. But when you came here, you came with humility, you came with respect, and you came with affection,” he said.

He said that in a BJP system, a person cannot have two identities. “You cannot be India and at the same time be America. That is what the fight is about. That is what we are trying to do in India,” he said.

“We are saying, don’t spread hatred, spread love. Don’t be arrogant, be humble. Don’t disrespect people, respect people, respect traditions, respect religions, respect languages, respect communities,” Gandhi said.