124 turtles recovered; one arrested
Lucknow: Making a breakthrough in checking smuggling of turtles from UP to South East Asian countries, a team of forest officials recovered 124 turtles from Mainpuri district and arrested a gang member involved in the racket. A team of forest department conducted a raid in Nagla Rateh area in Mainpuri district yesterday on a tip off and recovered 124 turtles, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Manish Singh, who led the team told PTI. Of the 124 turtles, 100 are Black Pond turtles, 20 Indian mud turtles and 4 Softshell Turtles, he said. During the raid, one Jitendra resident of Nagla Rateh was arrested while the kingpin of the smuggling gang Akhilesh resident of the same village managed to fled. An FIR has been registered in this regard against the accused. Turtle smuggling from Mainpuri and nearby regions is being reported for a while. “These turtles are smuggled to South East Asian countries where they are served as delicacies. In the past also, turtles were rescued from other parts of Mainpuri”, the officer said. (PTI)
Five booked for harassment, damaging property in UP
Etah: Five men have been booked for allegedly entering a house forcibly, damaging property and harassing women in village of Kotwali Jaithra area here. The incident took place on May 30 when five men entered the house of one Chhotey Lal and harassed the women present there after damaging the house, police said. One accused has been identified as Ramnath, they said. An FIR has been lodged on the basis of complaint by Chhotey Lal, against Ramnath and four others for both harassment and property damage, Station officer Kotwali Jaithera, Kailash Chandra Dubey said. The FIR comes in the wake of an application filed by Chhotey Lal in a local court. The complainant had to move court after the police refused to file an FIR in the case. No arrests have been made so far, police said. (PTI)
Young girl who joined Naxals, surrenders
Nagpur: A teenage girl from Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, who had allegedly joined the Naxal movement early this year, has surrendered before the police. The 14-year-old girl, a student of Class VIII at an ‘Ashram Shala’ (Tribal residential school) in Lahiri village of Gadchiroli, had run away along with two other girls in January this year. They were suspected to have joined the Naxal movement, Gadchiroli Police PRO Sub-inspector, Tejaswi Patil, told PTI. She surrendered before the Sub Divisional Police Officer, Bhamraharah, Sandeep Gavait, yesterday at his office, Patil said, adding, police is now looking to rescue the other two girls. The officer said the girl is being taken to the district headquarters where she will be interrogated. During the process, Police is hopeful of getting tip off about the other two girls, she added. (PTI)
Man poisoned to death by in-laws over fight with wife
Etah: A 30-year-old man was allegedly poisoned to death by his in-laws, after his wife moved to her parents house due to marital discord, in Jhakrai village here. The deceased, Ranjeet Singh of Kasganj town here got married to Sushila of Jhakrai village three years ago but soon after their marriage, many issues surfaced between them, police said. The wife then moved to her parents’ house, they said. A week ago, Sushila’s father Bijendra Singh called the victim to their village on the promise that they would send their daughter with him. But Bijendra Singh, along with his nephew Virendra and two others, killed his son-in-law by giving him poison, police said. Police added that soon after the incident, the woman’s family fled from the village, leaving behind Ranjeet Singh’s body. The deceased’s brother, Manoj Kumar and other family members lodged an FIR against Bijendra Singh and his family yesterday at kotwali Aliganj here, they said. Police noted that the matter was under investigation. (PTI)
Ice skating season gets off to smooth start in Shimla
Shimla: Ice skating in Himachal Pradesh capital Shimla this winter season got off to a smooth start on Sunday morning with a thick mantle of ice covering the rink at Blessington Courts. Some 30 skaters, mostly locals and visiting youngsters, lost no time in putting on their skates and manoeuvring deftly on the ice and having fun in the process. Earlier, the trial runs for commencing skating at Asia’s biggest natural open rink here were conducted on December 17 and 19. “Today (Sunday) morning, the first session of this winter season was successful. There was formation of considerable ice in the rink,” Bhuvnesh Banga, skating club secretary, told IANS. Regular morning and evening skating sessions were slated to begin from Monday. Normally, ice skating at the rink – set up in 1920 – usually begins towards the end of November or early December and continues till the middle of February. However, a delay of more than a fortnight this year occured since the night temperatures stayed above the desired levels, preventing formation of natural ice sheet at the rink. (PTI)
