Three held in minor girl gangrape case
Mumbai: Three accused in the gangrape case of a 16-year-old girl in Mumbai’s Dindoshi area were on Tuesday arrested from Diva town in neighbouring Thane district. The accused – Wasim Vatta (21), Yuvraj Pillai (20) and Shivkumar Kalwa (19) – were apprehended from Diva on Tuesday morning, a senior police official said. The three arrested are among the four accused who had allegedly raped the girl on Friday night, even as one alleged rapist and two persons who abated the crime are still absconding, police said. A number of teams have been formed to trace the three accused in connection with the offence, they said. According to police, six boys from Santosh Nagar area in Goregaon had on Friday asked the victim to join them for Diwali celebrations. As she knew the boys, she went with them. The boys took her to an isolated place before offering her a spiked soft drink. While she lost consciousness, four of the six boys–all of them in their 20s –took turns to rape her. Shocked, the girl kept quiet till Sunday and later narrated the ordeal to her grandmother. Subsequently, the girl along with her grandmother went to Dindoshi Police Station where an FIR was registered on November 3. Sensing that the girl would approach police, all six accused escaped the area, police said. On Sunday, the girl, who is an eighth class drop-out, was sent to Bhagwati Hospital where she underwent medical examination, police said. (PTI)
Four of a family killed in cylinder blast
Amreli (Guj): Four members of a family, including a woman and her two children, were on Tuesday charred to death following a cylinder blast at their residence here, a fire department official said. The mishap took place in the morning when an elderly member of the family threw the butt of a ‘beedi’ he was smoking, which immediately caught fire, an official said. The LPG cylinder at their residence had developed a leak, as a result of which, it blasted and the flames engulfed the entire house. Located near Tower chowk, the whole house was gutted in the blaze and four members of the family were killed in the inferno, while one person was seriously injured. The deceased have been identified as – Ibrahim Abdul Manthara (70), Kulsoom Hanif Manthara (37), Abid Hanif (11) and Amin Hanif (10). After a 30-minute operation, the blaze was doused and from the charred remains of the house, the bodies of the four persons were recovered. (PTI)
Man held for killing teenage daughter
Thane: In a suspected case of honour killing, a man was arrested for allegedly killing his teenaged daughter who had eloped with her boyfriend sometime back. The 17-year-old girl, a resident of Kashimira area in Bhayander township of Thane district, had run away with a boy living in their neighbourhood about two months back to a village in Uttar Pradesh, Kashimira police station sub-inspector Vilas Mate said. However, the couple returned sometime back and was living in Uttan area here when the girl’s father, Ramesh Rajbar (45), came to know of their whereabouts. Angry over the episode, Ramesh took the girl to a nearby forest area two days back on some pretext where he allegedly stabbed her to death and then hid the body under the bushes to conceal the killing. Acting on a tip-off, police arrested Ramesh on Monday and recovered the body from the forest. The accused has been charged under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of IPC while further investigation was on in the case, police said. (PTI)
Dreamliner on London-Delhi route makes priority landing at IGI
New Delhi: An Air India Dreamliner, with 184 passengers and crew onboard operating on London-Delhi route, made “priority” landing at the IGI Airport after some warning lights indicating problem with the braking system blipped in the cockpit. “The flight AI 116 sought priority landing yesterday (Monday) around 2.30 AM after pilots found some warning lights blipping as they were approaching Delhi,” Air India officials said. The lights indicated problems with the braking system that prompted the pilots to seek priority landing, they said, adding the aircraft, with 174 passengers and 10 crew members on board, landed safely. Airport sources said emergency procedures were put in place for the aircraft which was operating on the London-Delhi sector. The Boeing 787 landed safely on Runway 28 at 0222 hours, they added. (PTI)