CBI registers FIRs against 2 shelter homes in Bihar
New Delhi: The CBI has registered fresh FIRs pertaining to alleged abuse of children in two shelter homes in Bihar, officials said on Thursday. The agency has registered FIRs against Bhagalpur-based Boys’ Children Home run by Rupam Pragati Samaj Samiti and House Mother Children Home in Gaya, they said. Officials involved in the running of these shelter homes are under the probe of the agency, they said. There was national outrage last year following the alleged abuse of minor girls at a shelter home run by journalist Brajesh Pathak in Muzaffarpur in Bihar. The Supreme Court had directed the CBI to probe alleged abuse of inmates at 17 shelter homes listed in a study conducted by Tata Institute of Social Sciences. The TISS report stated that House Mother of Children Home, Gaya ill treated children by using abusive language, physical assault, forcing them to write lewd messages and taking manual labour. There was no proper arrangements for medical treatment, study, recreation, food, for the minor inmates at the shelter home. The agency also alleged that the director and other officials were running Boys’ Children Home in violation of provisions of Juvenile Justice Act. The observations in the TISS report have been included in the FIR as primary allegations, the officials said. (PTI)
Leopard snatches child from mother’s lap in Bengal
Alipurduar: A leopard snatched away a three-year-old girl from her mother’s lap after entering their home at a tea garden in West Bengal’s Alipurduar district, officials said on Wednesday. Parts of her body were found scattered in the Garganda tea garden in Madarihat area of the district this morning. The leopard sneaked into the house in the labour line on Tuesday night and grabbed Pranita, who was on her mother’s lap, the officials said. Pranita’s mother Puja Oraon fought the leopard but failed and it fled with the baby. “I tried my best. It was so large… I could not save her,” said a crying Oraon. Locals searched for the girl the entire night but could not find her, the officials said, adding that parts of her body were found in the tea garden this morning. (PTI)
Cache of arms seized in raid at shop, Dombivli BJP leader held
Thane: An office-bearer of the Dombivli unit of the BJP was arrested after police raided his fashion accessories store and recovered around 170 weapons, including air guns, swords and knives, an official said on Wednesday. The raid was conducted at the shop located in Tilak Nagar area in Dombivli on Monday night and the shop owner- Dhananjay Kulkarni (49)- was arrested early Tuesday morning, the official said. The BJP confirmed that Kulkarni is the vice president of the party’s Dombivli unit. “Following a tip-off, the raid was conducted at Tapasya House of Fashion, which sells fashion accessories and cosmetic products,” Sanju John, senior inspector of Kalyan unit of Thane Crime Branch, said. Kulkarni was Tuesday produced before a local court, which remanded him in judicial custody, police said. When contacted, BJP’s Dombivli unit president Sanjay Bidwadkar said Kulkarni is currently the vice president of the unit and also its committee member. (PTI)
DRI seizes gold worth Rs 6.8 cr smuggled from Dubai, Sri Lanka
Chennai: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has arrested four people for allegedly trying to smuggle gold valuing about Rs 6.88 crore into the country from Dubai and Sri Lanka, according to an official statement issued on Wednesday. All the four accused — the kingpin, his aide and close relative, and two carriers — have been remanded in judicial custody, it said. Acting on inputs, the DRI officials on Tuesday seized 20.6 kg gold, valued at Rs 6.88 crore, kept hidden by the syndicate at a residential premises here, the statement issued by the agency said. A BMW car used to deliver the smuggled gold and Rs 21 lakh were also seized, it said. “Interrogation of the apprehended persons revealed that the Chennai-based kingpin, a resident of Choolaimedu, used to organise operatives who would work in the domestic sector to various airports, collect gold bars from transit passengers at the respective airports and carry them back to Chennai in the domestic sector and hand them over to the kingpin and his aides,” the DRI said. Investigation revealed that the seized gold was smuggled from Dubai to Chennai through Mumbai in this manner, it said. (PTI)
SAD leader says Congress ‘intimidating’ witnesses
New Delhi: Shiromani Akali Dal leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Wednesday alleged that the Congress made 1984 anti-Sikh riots accused Jagdish Tytler sit in the front row at an event where Sheila Dikshit took over as its Delhi unit president to “intimidate” witnesses in related cases. He claimed the Congress is “afraid as it is aware that Tytler and Kamal Nath would also be jailed” in cases related to the anti-Sikh riots. “The Congress made Jagdish Tytler sit in the front row. It was a deliberate act to intimidate the witnesses in the anti-sikh riots cases,” Sirsa, who is also the general sectary of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, alleged. “The Congress wants to send a message to the witnesses that the party high command supports Tytler and nobody should even try to testify against him,” he alleged. “Since the conviction of Sajjan Kumar, the party is afraid… that the leaders whom it kept safe are now being jailed. By such acts, it is also sending a message to the judiciary and police that nobody should initiate action against them,” Sirsa alleged. He said Tytler and Kamal Nath won’t be spared and would definitely be sent to jail. Dikshit took over as Delhi Congress chief from Ajay Maken in the presence of a large number of party leaders and workers on Wednesday. (PTI)
4 killed in Maharashtra accident, angry mob burns vehicles
Gadchiroli: At least four persons, including school students, were killed and 10 others seriously injured on Wednesday when a state transport bus and a truck collided near Gurupalli village in Etappally region of the district, police officials said. An enraged mob and grieving relatives of the victims vent their anger on other vehicles, mostly belonging to a local mining company and torched around 10 trucks. Police are maintaining security measures on all the roads in the vicinity of the accident – around 300 km from the second capital of Nagpur – as a precautionary measure. (IANS)