In an email sent to Congress Lok Sabha member and her husband Shashi Tharoor, Sunanda Pushkar had expressed her desire to die, Delhi Police told a court here on Monday.

Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal that there was sufficient evidence to proceed against Tharoor.

The prosecutor informed the court that Pushkar was depressed and, in an email, written on January 8, 2014 to Tharoor, she had expressed her desire to die.

“I have no will to live. All I pray for is death,” prosecutor Shrivastava read the relevant line of the email written by Pushkar to Tharoor.

He told the court that the cause of her death was poisoning.

After hearing the submission, the court set June 5 to deliver its order on accepting the chargesheet against Tharoor.

On May 14, the Delhi Police chargesheeted Tharoor under Sections 306 and 498A of the Indian Penal Code, pertaining to abetment to suicide and cruelty to wife, which entails a jail term that could extend up to 10 years.

Pushkar, 51, was found dead in her suite at Leela Hotel in south Delhi on January 17, 2014, days after she alleged that her husband was having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.

The office of the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner has called on Indian authorities to protect journalist Rana Ayyub who has received death threats following an online hate campaign.

The UN body said Ayyub faced online backlash after a parody account on Twitter with a handle nearly identical to that of news channel Republic TV published a tweet with a quote falsely attributed to Ayyub on April 22 this year.

“Minor child rapists are also human, do they have no human rights,” the tweet had said. “This Hindutva Government is bringing an ordinance for death to child rapists just to hang Muslims in larger numbers. Muslims aren’t safe in India anymore.”

The tweet was shared widely, forcing Ayyub to issue a clarification

Following this, Ayyub received several hate messages and calls threatening gang-rape and murder.

In a column about online harassment that Ayyub wrote in The New York Times, she said another tweet saying “I hate India and Indians” was falsely attributed to her.
“The online mob asked me to pack my bags and leave for Pakistan, some threatened to tear my clothes and drag me out of the country while invoking the genocidal violence between Hindus and Muslims during the partition of India in 1947,” she said in The New York Times article.

Ayyub also mentioned that a pornographic video was circulated with her face morphed on the body of another woman.

“We are highly concerned that the life of Rana Ayyub is at serious risk following these graphic and disturbing threats,” said the UN experts, who are in contact with Indian authorities on the situation.

Although the police have begun an investigation into the threats Ayyub has received, she has reportedly not yet received any police protection, the UN statement has noted.

“The government of India has an obligation to provide effective protection to those who receive death threats and to protect individuals from foreseeable threats to life or bodily integrity,” the statement says.

Rana Ayyub is a journalist and author of Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up, a book that investigates the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah in the 2002 Gujarat riots, which left more than 2,000 people dead.

A threatening message aimed at Muslim women via Whatsapp was being circulated until the Mangaluru city police nabbed the culprits. The threat was issued to Hijab-clad women if they are found in malls, film theaters, hotels and other recreation centers during the holy month of Ramadan.

The arrested accused have been identified as Mohammed Sadik(23), resident of Kuppepadavu and Abdul Sathar (35), resident of Kadeshivalaya of Bantwal Taluk. The duo have been accused of circulating threatening messages aimed at Muslim women via Whats App. They were produced before court which has remanded them to judicial custody. The police arrested the accused on Friday, May 25th.

The whatsapp messages reads: “It is warning to Mangaluru Muslim Women. The holy month of Ramadan month has started and if you are found in malls, film theaters and parks or consuming food while wearing Hijab you will be trashed on the spot itself. Our eyes are watching you always. Let us see who will protect you- MDF Mangaluru”.

Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday pre-dawn hours recovered throat slit body of a man in Hajin area of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district.
Incharge Station House Officer (SHO) Hajin said that some three to four unknown gunmen barged inside the house of Mohd Yaqoob Wagay (38) son of Ghulam Mohd Wagay and abducted him at Gunda Preng village in Hajin at around 1:00 am.
The officer said that the family members immediately informed concerned police station about the incident who subsequently reached the spot and recovered the throat-slit body at a site close to Yaqoob’s house.
Yaqoob was a mutton dealer by profession and his body was taken to a hospital for all legal medico formalities including the postmortem, he said.
A case has been registered and further investigations initiated, the officer added.

Hindusthan Samachar/Saleem/Shri Ram\

A married man — the only son of his parents — killed both with the help of his two accomplices in south Delhi to get hold of their property and to marry his Facebook girlfriend, following which he and one co-accused were arrested, police said on Tuesday.

Abdul Rehman, a Jamia Nagar resident and main accused, along with Nadeem Khan, 32, of west Delhi’s Nangloi were arrested on Monday after Rehman broke down during sustained interrogation and confessed to his crime. Nadeem was arrested later.

One accused Guddu is still at large.

Rehman had roped in Nadeem and Guddu with a promise of Rs 2.5 lakh for killing his father Shamim, 55, and mother Taslim Bano, 55, in Jamia Nagar.

“During interrogation, Rehman told police that he is already married and used to work at a call centre but left in 2016 due to his drug addiction. He met a girl on ‘Facebook’, who stayed in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Chinmoy Biswal said.

“Rehman wanted to marry his girlfriend but his parents were against it and advised him to focus on his married life instead. Since he was the only son of his parents, Rehman planned to kill them in order to get their property and jewellery,” Biswal said.

Police said Rehman along with Nadeem and Guddu smothered Taslim Bano and Shamim on April 28 while they were asleep at their house.

After Nadeem and Guddu escaped from the spot, Rehman somehow locked the door from inside and later concocted a story that his parents were killed by robbers, the officer added.

A wanted criminal jumped off the second floor of a building in west Delhi on Monday in a bid to escape arrest, with only a towel wrapped around his waist, but failed and landed in police net — albeit in his birthday suit.

The incident was caught on camera by amused as well as shocked onlookers. The police did not disclose the name of the accused.

Deputy Chief Commissioner (West) Vijay Kumar said that after a police team reached the Inderpuri house of the accused, wanted in three robbery cases, he jumped off the building wearing only a towel to cover his modesty.

He was caught by onlookers and police team stationed on the ground and escorted to the police vehicle and provided with clothes.

“Police offered him innerwear to wear, but he did’t cooperate and rather tried to free himself. He is a desperate criminal with 31 cases registered against him,” the officer said.

A man and a teenager were stabbed, in two separate but similar incidents, by a group of unknown assailants as they were returning home on early Sunday, police said.

Both the cases were reported from south Delhi.

In the first case, Zubaid Hayat, 17, a resident of Jasola in Sarita Vihar, was returning his home after prayers during the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan when he was attacked.

“Having offered prayer at a mosque, Hayat was returning to his residence when some unknown youth stopped him and started beating him. When Hayat resisted, they stabbed him two times before escaping from the spot,” a senior police officer said.

“Some locals informed us about attack on Hayat. We informed the local police following which he was admitted to the AIIMS trauma centre,” Asmat, a relative of Hayat, told IANS.

In a similar case reported from south Delhi’s Tughlakabad area, a 45-year-old man returning from his office was stabbed by some assailants early on Sunday.

Feroze Khan was on the way to his residence when he was stabbed by unknown attackers after they picked up a fight with him.

“I was informed by police from AIIMS trauma centre that my uncle was stabbed by someone and he is undergoing treatment there. When we rushed to trauma centre, we found that he suffered three stab wounds,” his nephew Amir told IANS.

The police officer said that from the initial probe, it appears both the incidents are similar.

“Prima facie it was found that victims were stabbed by attackers during a confrontation when they resisted their snatching attempts. We are examining CCTV footage to ascertain the identities of accused persons,” the officer added.

Some defeated candidates brought a group of seven people for the police to arrest, alleging that this group had managed to hack the EVMs in the recently concluded Assembly polls.

The incident took place at Narasimha Raja (NR) police station on Wednesday late night.

A large number of people gathered in front of the police station at 11 pm.

City Police Commissioner A Rao said that some candidates of NR, Chamaraja and KR Constituencies, who lost the recent polls, alleged that the seven people they handed over to the police had managed to hack EVMs.

The defeated candidates said that the group of seven had approached them prior to the elections offering to hack the EVMs for them. But they had sent the unscrupulous group away without accepting their offer.

The defeated candidates alleged that they had lost solely because this group had hacked EVMs for the contestants who won.

Rao confirmed that the police did not register any case in this connection and no one was taken into custody.

Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Sankar stated that it was not possible to hack the EVMS.

A youth’s attempt to rape a minor girl sparked violent protests in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur town on Tuesday night, police said on Wednesday.

Tension prevailed in the old Guntur town after a mob attacked a police station, demanding that the accused be handed over to them. The mob also damaged police vehicles and set fire to some two-wheelers.

Police caned the mob and fired in the air to bring the situation under control. As a precaution, police imposed orders banning assembly of five or more persons.

The incident occurred in Balajinagar area when the youth, 20-year-old Madhu, tried to rape the 10-year-old girl when she was alone in her house. When the girl came out of the house crying, the locals caught hold of the youth and thrashed him. The accused ran to the nearest police stations and surrendered.

Meanwhile, the girl’s parents and other relatives gathered outside the police station, demanding that the accused be handed over to them.

As the number of protestors swelled, police called additional force. The mob then tried to barge into the police station. When the police resisted, they pelted stones, injuring about 20 police personnel.

The window glasses of the police station, police vehicles and fire engine were smashed. The mob also set fire to some two-wheelers.

Police then used canes and fired in the air to bring the situation under control.

A police officer said a case was booked against the accused on a complaint by the girl’s parents.

Police have also registered a case against those who resorted to violence outside the police station.

This is the latest in a series of incidents of rape of minor girls in Guntur district.

A 50-year-old rickshaw puller raped a nine-year-old girl in Dachepalli earlier this month. The incident sparked public outrage and violent protests. The accused later committed suicide.

Last week, another shocking incident came to light. Police arrested a local functionary of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for repeatedly raping a 14-year-old girl. Investigations revealed that the victim was three-month pregnant.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted former cricketer and Punjab Tourism Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu from culpable homicide charges in a 30-year-old road rage case for which he was awarded a three-year jail term.

A bench of Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul acquitted Sidhu of culpable homicide not amounting to murder charges but convicted him for causing simple injury and imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 without any jail term.

The court also acquitted the other accused, his cousin Rupinder Singh Sandhu, of all charges.

The incident dates to December 27, 1988 when Sidhu and his cousin had beaten up Gurnam Singh and two others in what was described as a road rage case. Gurnam Singh later died.

On April 12 this year, the Punjab government supported the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court convicting the minister. It told the apex court that the 65-year-old victim had died after a fist blow from the cricketer-turned-politician.

The state had said there was no evidence at all to suggest that Gurnam Singh died due to cardiac arrest and not brain haemorrhage.

In 1999, the trial court in Patiala had acquitted Sidhu and his cousin saying the medical report stated that the death was due to a heart attack.

The High Court in December 2006 had overturned the lower court’s decision. It had said that Gurnam Singh did not die of cardiac arrest but due to the injury on his temporal lobe. Sidhu was awarded three years in jail for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The apex court in 2007 stayed the conviction after counsel appearing for Sidhu had contended that the findings of the High Court were based on opinions and not medical evidence.

Sidhu’s lawyer had argued that there were deficiencies in the medical evidence and the prosecution witnesses had given different statements on oath before the trial court.