The mystery over the murder of a 12-year-old boy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal district has been solved and the accused has been arrested, police said on Thursday.

The dead body of Faisal was found in an orchard in his native Busarbugh village on Tuesday.

The police said Faisal was strangulated to death by Abrar Majid, 21, a known drug addict, in the orchard.

“We have arrested Abrar Majid. He confessed to have killed Faisal in a fit of rage. Abrar was stalking the recently-married sister of the victim,” police said, adding they are now collecting forensic evidence.

(IANS)

India has strongly protested the brutal killing of a BSF soldier by Pakistani troopers along the International Border near Jammu on Tuesday.

Sources in the security establishments said the killing of BSF trooper has been taken “very seriously” by the government.

They said India strongly raised the issue at the Directorate General of Military Operations (DGMO)-level talks held on Tuesday.

India’s protest come after the mutilated body of Border Security Force’s (BSF) Head constable Narendra Singh was found hours after an unprovoked firing was started by Pakistan in Ramgarh sector of Jammu on the patrolling party which went ahead of fence for clearing elephant grass or ‘Sarkanda’.

The BSF in its statement said that while such groups are routinely sent to remove wild growth to clear the view along the border, on Tuesday there was unprovoked firing from Pakistan side.

“The firing from Pakistan side was retaliated by the patrol and they tactically extricated themselves. The patrol found one of their members missing,” the BSF said.

The BSF said that with the reinforcement from the company, the complete area was sanitized first and then the search started for the missing trooper.

The area between fence and International Boundary is “undulating, marshy and has thick elephant grass”, growth of which made the search “difficult”.

“With much effort, the body of missing trooper was found with multiple bullet injuries on his torso including neck,” it said.

It said that the BSF has lodged a strong complaint with the Pakistan Rangers.

(IANS)

The CCTV recordings of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s stay in the hospital has been overwritten several times automatically, Apollo Hospitals has told the Justice A. Arumughaswamy Commission.

The Commission is probing the circumstances leading to hospitalization of Jayalalithaa on September 22, 2016 and the treatment provided to her till her death December 5, 2016.

“The CCTV recordings get overwritten automatically after 30 days. This information was shared with the Commission on September 11,” Maimoona Badsha, counsel for Apollo Hospitals, told IANS on Wednesday.

The hospital has informed the Commission that it is unable to submit the requested footage as it pertains to the period when Jayalalithaa was in the hospital – between September 22, 2016 to December 5, 2016.

The Commission had earlier asked the Apollo Hospital to submit the CCTV footages of certain areas within the hospital.

Badsha said it has been the procedure at the hospital to store the CCTV footages for 30 days after which new images are recorded.

When asked about Apollo Hospitals Executive Chairman Prathap C Reddy’s earlier statement that the CCTV cameras were switched off, Badsha said “that is a different issue.”

(IANS)

A man attacked his daughter and son-in-law with a machete and baldy injured them here on Wednesday, in another case of assault for family honour.

Madhavi, 22, was battling for life while her husband Sandeep, 24, too suffered grievous injuries in the attack by Manoharachary. The incident occurred in the busy SR Nagar area, police said.

Manoharachary, who was opposed to the marriage because Sandeep comes from another caste, had called the couple to meet and give them some presents. As soon as they reached the meeting point, he took out a machete from his bag and attacked them.

The assailant first targeted his son-in-law and when the latter fell to the ground, he attacked his daughter. Madhavi too collapsed and bled profusely. They were shifted to a hospital, where the condition of Madhavi is stated to be critical. She suffered deep cuts on the neck and a hand.

According to police, Madhavi and Sandeep were in love for last five years and wanted to marry. However, her upper caste family opposed it. Manoharachary wanted her to marry his sister’s son but she refused and had come to Sandeep’s house a few days ago. They went to Arya Samaj and married some 10 days ago.

The girl’s family refused to accept the marriage but at the counselling conducted by the police they agreed to accept it. Manoharachary later conveyed to her daughter that he wants to meet them at a location in S. R. Nagar and buy some clothes for them. When they reached there, he attacked them.

The attacker later went to police station and surrendered.

The incident came close on the heels of killing of a Dalit youth by his father-in-law in Miryalguda town of Telangana’s Nalgonda district. Pranay Kumar was hacked to death when he was coming out of a hospital with his wife Amrutha Varshini on September 14.

Police have arrested seven accused including the girl’s father Maruthi Rao, who had struck Rs.1 crore deal for the contract killing.

(IANS)

A woman Sarpanch’s brother-in-law was allegedly shot dead in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district for pointing to corrupt practices in Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY), police said on Wednesday.

Md. Neyazuddin Khan alias Munna Khan, brother-in-law of the Sarpanch (village head) of Purvi Akhta village, was shot dead by Fida Hussain, husband of village Mukhiya Shahnaz Khatoon.

“Neyazuddin was shot dead after he repeatedly raised the issue of bribery demanded from the beneficiaries of PMAY,” Mushtaque Khan, a villager, said.

However, Praveen Prabhakar, Officer in-Charge of the local police station, denied that Khan was shot dead. According to him, said Neyazuddin was attacked and beaten to death by accused Fida and his henchmen.

The officer said: “Neyazuddin’s wife Nazis Khatoon and his daughter Imroz Khatoon were also beaten by the accused. Both are undergoing treatment in a hospital.”

According to villagers, Niyazuddin had not only opposed and exposed corruption in the PMAY but also held a street meeting on this issue recently that angered Fida.

“Soon after the meeting on September 14, Neyazuddin was abused and threatened by Fida and his men, but some villagers intervened and the matter was settled. He was again manhandled by Fida and his men on Tuesday and they threatened to eliminate him,” said another villager.

The police have lodged a case against nine accused including Fida based on the statement of family members of Neyazuddin.

Additional security forces have been deployed in the village in view of tension after the incident.

All the accused are said to be absconding since the incident.

(IANS)

The special investigation team (SIT) probing Gauri Lankesh murder has taken former Shiv Sena Corporator Shrikant Pangarkar (40) into custody from the Mumbai prison. His custody was sought after interrogating Sudhanva Gondhalekar, an associate of Pangarkar, who allegedly revealed the latter’s involvement in the murder conspiracy. It is also suspected that he played a major role in arranging logistics and extending financial support for procuring arms and ammunition.

“We took him into custody as we have found vital revelations from Gondhalekar, which linked him with the 7.65mm country-made pistol that was used to murder both Gauri Lankesh and Prof M M Kalburgi. The Maharashtra  ATS had arrested him last month. Pangarkar is also alleged to be involved in providing funds for crude bombs and conducting recce at different spots. Searches were carried out in Jalna and Aurangabad on August 18 and the ATS had recovered one hard disc and three mobile phones,” the police said.

During interrogation, it was reportedly revealed that Pangarkar is closely associated with Amol Kale and his co-accused Amit Degwekar, who were in charge of their covert operations in Karnataka. Pangarkar was reportedly known to them as ‘Praji’ and was listed under this alias in the diary that was recovered by the SIT from Amol Kale.

The investigating agencies are presently tracking his financial transactions after it emerged later that he was also connected with Sachin Andure, suspected to be one of the shooters in the Dabholkar case.

PTI

Kengeri police traced the absconding wife of a chain snatcher for instigating her husband Achyuth Kumar, a notorious chain snatcher, to commit the crimes.

The arrested Madhavi (28) allegedly used to inciting her husband to snatch minimum of three gold chains in a day.

Achyuth was shot at and arrested on June 17 by the Kengeri police on charges of committing chain snatchings and had recovered 3.5 kg of gold jewellery, worth Rs 1 crore, from the accused and also five motorbikes, which he used for robberies. With his arrest the police have claimed to have solved 105 cases of chain snatchings.

During probe, he revealed to the police that it was his wife who was inciting him to commit the crime.

Ever since her police was arrested, she went missing and was traced in her hometown in North Karnataka in an orphanage.

In just three months, Gani had gathered gold jewellery worth Rs 1 crore. However, most of the stolen gold chains were either sold or pledged to lead a lavish life.

Police said that the couple is put behind bars.

PTI

The Karkala Rural Police arrested three persons on Monday, September 17 who tried to hide the dead body of a woman and tamper with evidence.

The arrested are John (57), Sunil (30) of Sacharipete and Padmanabha (42) of Mundkur. The deceased is identified as Girija of Mundkur village.

Girija who was employed at the Ram restaurant, after finishing her work was going to her brother’s house. On her way, she stepped on an electrical trap and lost her life, said sources.

Padmanabha, Sunil and John after learning that Girija died by stepping on to the electric trap they had installed to hunt pig, came to the spot and disposed the dead body into the adjoining well to avoid police case.

Two days after the death of Girija, this incident came into light and the accused were detained by the police.

The accused will be produced before the court on Wednesday, September 19.

PTI

A Border Security Force (BSF) Constable was arrested on Wednesday in Noida for passing “secret and sensitive” information to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, officials said.

The arrest was made by the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh Police.

The trooper has been identified as Acchutanand Mishra and officials said he was “honeytrapped” by “a person who used a fake ID of a woman” in social networking site Facebook.

He was befriended by a woman ISI agent.

Briefing the media, Director General of Police O.P. Singh said Mishra was arrested from Sector 18 in Noida, adjoining Delhi.

Hailing from Reva in Madhya Pradesh, Mishra had been passing off secret and sensitive information to the Pakistani intelligence agency, Singh said.

Singh said that during interrogation, Mishra admitted to sharing details pertaining to vital installations and locations of the BSF and Indian Army training camps. Many other details were also leaked.

Pakistani troops have slit the throat of a BSF jawan after fatally shooting him along the international border (IB) near Jammu, officials said on Wednesday.

The brutal and “unprecedented” incident that took place in the Ramgarh sector on Tuesday has prompted the security forces to issue a “high alert” across the IB and Line of Control (LoC) even as the Border Security Force (BSF) has lodged a strong complaint with its counterparts — the Pakistan Rangers.

Official sources said the body of Head Constable Narender Kumar also bore three bullet wounds and it could only be retrieved from a spot ahead of the Indo-Pak fence after over six hours as the Pakistani side “did not respond” to the calls to maintain the sanctity of the frontier and ensure that the BSF search parties were not fired upon.

The Pakistan Rangers, the sources said, was asked to take part in a joint patrolling to trace the missing jawan, but they only came up to a certain point and cited waterlogging problems in the area that prevented them from undertaking a coordinated action.

The BSF then waited for the sun to set and launched a “risky operation” to bring the jawan’s body back to the post by “late evening”.
Officials in the security establishment said the incident of brutality with the jawan, probably a first at the IB, was taken “very seriously” by the government and the Ministry of External Affairs and the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) were also expected to take up the issue with their Pakistani counterparts.

They added that since the BSF patrol party that went ahead of the fence to cut the tall “sarkanda” (elephant) grass was first fired upon at 10.40 am on Tuesday, hectic phone calls and communication exchanges went on from the Indian side to across the border in order to locate the jawan, who was first declared missing.

While the BSF did not comment on the developments, sources said the force had alerted all its formations along the IB and informed the Army to be vigilant at the LoC.

“The body of the jawan bears three bullet injuries and his throat has been slit. This is an unprecedented action that has happened with the Indian forces along the IB and the Pakistani troopers are behind this. The BSF and other forces will undertake a counter-action at a suitable time,” an official said.

The jawan was killed on the spot after he was hit by a fatal sniper shot from across the border, he added.

The BSF’s Jammu frontier had yesterday issued a statement on the incident but did not mention anything about the hacking.

“A BSF party that was on domination patrolling ahead of the fence was fired upon. The BSF troops immediately took position and retaliated but the enemy bullets hit a jawan. The area on the Pakistani side has a protective bundh close to the IB,” the force had said in the statement.

It had added that the area on the Indian side was undulated, marshy and had a thick “sarkanda” growth that made tracing the location of the felled jawan difficult.

The incident came a day after Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the maiden “smart fence” project of the BSF in Jammu on Monday that aims to deploy smart technology and gadgets to secure the vulnerable patches on the Indo-Pak border.

PTI