An Assistant Sub-Inspector who had gone to arrest a wanted criminal was brutally done to death by a group of criminals and their supporters in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh, police said on Wednesday.

Eight persons have been taken into custody in the case.

Umreth police station ASI Dev Chand Nagle had gone to Jamunia Jethu village to arrest Johar Singh, against whom an arrest warrant had been issued, when the group of 8-10 persons armed with axes and batons attacked him on Tuesday night, Additional Superintendent of Police Neeraj Soni told IANS.

The ASI was accompanied by another police official, apart from a revenue official. However, the police personnel was unarmed.

A Gujarat court on Wednesday sentenced Patidar agitation spearhead Hardik Patel and two of his associates to two years in jail on charges of vandalizing a BJP legislator’s office in Mehsana district in 2015.

This was after a rally demanding reservations for Patidar youth in government jobs and educational institutions turned violent in Visnagar town.

A mob of around 3,000 to 5,000 people vandalized BJP MLA Rushikesh Patel’s office.

In all, 17 people, including Hardik Patel, were charged with arson, rioting, and criminal conspiracy.

Patel was arrested and released on bail, and subsequently barred by the court from entering Mehsana district.

Acting on court orders, the Bihar Police on Monday dug up aground on the premises of a Muzaffarpur shelter home run by an NGO in search of the body of an inmate who was allegedly murdered after sexual assault. The excavation work ended as nobody could be found.

The matter came to light after a social audit report of the TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) claimed that 42 girl inmates of the Muzaffarpur Balika Grih had allegedly been sexually assaulted. The inmates were allegedly beaten up or drugged before being sexually abused.

One of the victims alleged that those who resisted rape were killed. A girl was beaten up and killed and her body was buried on the stay home premises, she had alleged. The court ordered excavation to exhume her body in presence of magistrate Sheela Kumari.

“On court’s permission, the excavation was carried out at the stay home run by NGO Seva Sankalp and Vikas Samiti on Monday with the help of sniffer dogs but nothing was found. Further probe is on to ascertain the veracity of the allegations,” said Muzaffarpur SSP Harpreet Kaur.
“One of the inmates had alleged that staff members often assaulted girl inmates and one of them had died in the process. We dug up the spot on the premises to verify her claims,” she said.

A special investigation team (SIT) had been formed. “The police have arrested 10 persons in connection with the Muzaffarpur stay home incident, while raids are on to nab other accused,” said the SSP.

The girl inmates were shifted from Muzaffarpur to other homes, while medical tests were carried out to ascertain rape. At least 16 of the 21 medical reports submitted to the officials concerned had confirmed rape, while other reports are yet to come,” said sources, adding some other girls had disappeared in the past and the matter was under investigation.

At least 30 traumatized rape survivors were under medical observation at various hospitals. Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav had demanded a CBI probe into the incident.

A father-son duo have been arrested for cheating more than 150 people by making them invest in different schemes, police said on Monday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, West, Vijay Kumar said that the accused — Balkrishan Kushwaha, 58, his son, Rajender Singh, 32, along with their accomplices — started a company named “Ex-Serviceman Success Vision”.

Kushwaha and his partner, Ompal Singh, used to introduce themselves as retired army officers and the directors of the firm and so far, has cheated around 150 to 200 people of Naraina village in west Delhi by inducing them to invest in the firm’s different investment schemes, promising a “lucrative bonus and high return”.

Kushwaha and his son were arrested from Sector-61, Noida while two of their partners are absconding.

“With their arrest, four cases of cheating have been worked out,” the police officer said.

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly abducted from Adarsh Mandi police station area and raped for 15 days, police said today.

The minor was reportedly abducted by Raju on May 29 when she had gone to attend nature’s call. She was taken to Punjab and raped for days, Additional SP Shalok Kumar said.

A case has been registered against Raju, his brother Vijay, mother Premi Devi and one Avtar Singh following a complaint by the victim’s family, he said.

Efforts are on to trace the accused, the officer added.

A high-level team, set up by the Rajasthan Police on Monday, to probe why policemen took three hours to reach a hospital only four kilometers away with a badly injured man accused of smuggling cows, admitted local personnel made an “error of judgment”.

An Assistant Sub-Inspector was suspended for the undue delay and action taken against four constables.

The high-level police team formed on Monday morning on directions of state Director General of Police O.P. Galhotra visited the location where Rakbar alias Akbar was brutally bashed by a mob in Alwar on Saturday night.

The team met his relatives, spoke to local residents and policemen to thoroughly investigate the matter.

Special Director General N.R.K. Reddy said police reached the location of the incident on time but failed to gauge the extent of injuries sustained by the victim. He also added that police first took the cows to a “gaushala” (cow shelter) and then took the victim to hospital where he was declared brought dead. “Rakbar alias Akbar died due to serious internal injuries and further investigations are on in the case,” he said.

The panel was to also investigate whether the policemen callously stopped on the way to the hospital to have tea while Rakbar lay bleeding in their vehicle and was eventually declared dead.

Galhotra had said the team will find out why so much time was wasted in transporting Rakbar after he was beaten up in Alwar district on Saturday.

The team also includes senior officers P.K. Singh, Hemant Priyadarshi and Mahendra Singh Chaudhary.

Later on Monday, police sources said ASI Mohan Singh had been suspended for negligence and delay, while action has also been taken against four constables.

The policemen apparently reached the site of the attack at 1 a.m. but the victim reached the hospital only at 4 a.m., said a police official.

It has been alleged that the policemen stopped on the way to have tea.

Naval Sharma, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Gau Raksha cell chief in Ramgarh, quoted the FIR to say that the police reached the site at 12.41 a.m. and the victim was taken by them by 1 a.m.

However, surprisingly, police reached the hospital at 4 am. The post-mortem report says the victim died at 3.40 a.m.

A social worker in the region, Vijay Kumar, told IANS that Akbar and Aslam were taking bovines from the fields at midnight. When the animals cried out, some villagers came out and thrashed Akbar.

As it was raining heavily, Akbar fell on the muddy field and his companion Aslam escaped. By then, police reached the spot after being alerted about the attack.

However, as the victim was covered in mud, the police refused to take him in their vehicle and asked the villagers to clean him.

The villagers poured water on him. Dharmendra, who was later taken as an accused by the police, brought clothes from his house.

Vijay Kumar says the policemen were drunk and they too might have beaten him as the victim had earlier records of cow smuggling.

According to him, when Akbar died, police came to the village to arrest the witnesses to save their skin.

The cows, meanwhile, were shifted to a ‘gaushala’ at 3.26 a.m. in a three-wheeler — just before the man died.

Alwar Superintendent of Police Rajendra Singh told the media: “We will investigate the matter thoroughly and take action against the accused.”

Senior Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq was put under house arrest on Tuesday to prevent his participation in a seminar organized to mark the completion of one year in prison of separatist leaders booked by the National Investigation Agency.

A police party came to the city outskirts Nigeen residence of the Mirwaiz in the morning and informed him that he cannot move out.

Mirwaiz Umer was scheduled to attend a seminar in Abi Guzar area here organized by the joint residence leadership (JRL) separatist conglomerate headed by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer, and Yasin Malik.

A third arrest was made today in the case of the lynching of a 28-year-old man in Rajasthan’s Alwar district which was handed over to an additional SP-rank officer for investigation.

“Naresh Singh, a resident of Lalawandi village, was arrested today. Police are on the lookout for another accused,” SHO, Ramgarh Police Station, Subhash Sharma said. Two persons were nabbed by police yesterday.

Sharma said Naresh and other arrested accused, Dharmendra Yadav and Paramjeet Singh Sardar, were produced before a court, which sent them to five days’ police remand. Akbar Khan, 28, was allegedly lynched by a group of people who accused him of smuggling cows, police said.

Khan and his friend Aslam were taking two cows to their village in Haryana through a forested area near Lalawandi in Alwar district last night when five men attacked them, Sharma said. They suspected that Khan was smuggling cows but the allegation is yet to be verified, Sharma said.

Dharmendra and Paramjeet were arrested yesterday. Earlier today, the investigation into the case was handed over to an additional SP-rank officer by the IG of Jaipur range.

Inspector General (Jaipur range) Hemant Priyadarshy said an impartial investigation would be carried out. No culprit would be spared nor would any innocent be framed, he added.

A 30-year-old married woman working as an Area Manager with a multinational pharmaceutical company here has lodged a sexual harassment complaint against two senior colleagues, following which an investigation has been initiated, police said on Sunday.

Police said the woman, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, complained against company’s General Manager Gaurav Pawar and Regional Manager Sarfaraz Ahmed at the Pandav Nagar police station on Friday.

“The woman said that she is working with the company since June 2011. In November 2017, Gaurav tried to quizz her about her personal life but she evaded the queries. Since then, both the accused began to touch her inappropriately whenever they found her alone in office. When the woman resisted their attempts, they threatened her with sacking,” a senior police officer said.

The woman claimed that she approached the company’s grievance cell and the top management but they did not take stern action against the two.

The woman told her husband, following which the couple approached Delhi police.

“We are investigating and are examining the CCTV footage from the office of the complainant as well as the accused,” the officer said.

Police here have busted a gang which used to provide fake mark sheets of class 10, 12, B.A, B.Tech, Pharmacy and MBA, officials said on Friday.

Five persons, including a former secretary of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) — the youth wing of Congress, have been arrested in this connection, police said.

A police officer said the gang used to provide fake mark sheets, diplomas and other degrees for students for varsities spread over Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

One laptop, 133 degrees, five mobile phones, a sports utility vehicle (SUV) and two colour printers have also been seized from the gang members, who have been sent to jail after interrogation.

They have been identified as Uma Shankar, Ajay, Anil Kumar, Rajesh and Salman. Most of them are from the National Capital Region (NCR).