Mulayam hospitalised in Mumbai
Mumbai: Samajwadi Party founder and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has been admitted to a hospital here for some abdominal health issues, sources said on Sunday. The 80-year-old leader, who is also former Defence minister, came to a private hospital here three days back on the advice of doctors, they said. “He has been admitted to a private hospital here for abdominal complaints,” a close aide of the leader said. Yadav was advised to shift to Mumbai and he came here three days back, he said. “He is likely to be discharged today, but it depends on the doctors’ examination and their satisfaction with his response to medication,” he added. (PTI)
138 child labourers rescued
Surat: A team of the Rajasthan and Gujarat child rights commissions, the former’s anti-human trafficking unit and an NGO jointly rescued 138 children in the 10-16 age group from Surat on Sunday, officials said. These children were brought from Rajasthan to work in the city’s textile sector, hotels and as domestic workers, they said. The children were rescued after these teams, along with that of Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolnan, raided an apartment in Puna locality here, an official said. Twelve people were held in the raid and have been handed over to Surat police, he said. “Of the 138 children rescued, 128 are from Rajasthan, the rest from Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. Twelve people have been detained and handed over to police, though the kingpin is missing,” Shailendra Pandya, Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights member said. “They were kept in inhuman conditions and were made to work in the textile sector, hotels and as domestic workers. Most of the children are from tribal areas of Rajasthan and were trafficked to Surat to provide cheap labour,” Pandya said. (PTI)
Srinagar witnesses coldest night
Srinagar/Jammu: The fringes of the famous Dal Lake froze on Sunday as the mercury continued its freefall in Srinagar which experienced the coldest night of the season at minus 6.2 degrees Celsius, the MET Office said. The minimum temperature across the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh Union Territory stayed several degrees below the freezing point, intensifying the cold wave in some areas in the region, an official of the Meteorological Department said. Jammu region continued to reel under intense cold with the mercury staying several degrees below the season’s average, an official said. Snow-bound Banihal town along Jammu-Srinagar national highway was the coldest recorded place in the region with a low of minus 2.2 degrees Celsius, followed by Bhaderwah in Doda district at minus 0.8 degrees Celsius, the official said. He said Jammu recorded a minimum of 5.7 degrees Celsius, 1.7 notches below normal during this part of the season, against the previous night’s 6.2 degrees Celsius. (PTI)
Flesh trade racket busted
Mumbai: Two women, including a foreign national, who were allegedly forced into prostitution, were rescued while a pimp was arrested from a hotel in suburban Andheri, police said on Sunday. Acting on a tip-off, the police conducted a raid on a plush hotel near Marol Metro station on Saturday night, Deputy Commissioner of Police Shivdeep Lande said. “Two women, in the age group of 20 to 21 years, were rescued. One of them is a foreign national while another hails from Mumbai,” he said. The police also arrested a pimp, identified as Sony alias Prabha Prabeer Mandi, a resident of Nehrunagar in Vile Parle area, he said. She has been booked under provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. Prior to this, the police in the last eight days arrested six people for alleged immoral trafficking and rescued 15 women, who were lured with job promises in films and TV shows, from different hotels in Mumbai, Lande said. On December 20, the police raided a spa at Prabhadevi in Dadar area where nine women were rescued and one person was arrested, the official said. On December 21, an online escort service racket was busted at a hotel in Colaba area of south Mumbai. Two aspiring models and a minor girl were rescued while the hotel’s manager, a waiter and a customer were arrested, the official said. On December 24, the police busted another high profile escort service racket at a four-star hotel in Juhu area where aspiring models were allegedly pushed in flesh trade. Three women were rescued from the hotel while two men were arrested, the police added. (PTI)
Man duped of Rs 13 lakh
Thane: A top executive of a company based at Ambernath in Thane district of Maharashtra was allegedly duped of Rs 13 lakh on the pretext of updating his Know Your Customer (KYC) information on an e-commerce payment system, police said on Sunday. The 60-year-old victim, who resides at Vartak Nagar here, has lodged a complaint with the police, based on which a case was registered against two persons, identified as Rahul Sharma and Rohit Sharma, an official said. “The victim is a managing director of a machinery manufacturing company. A few days back, he got a call on his mobile and the callers (Sharmas) told him that they need some information as the KYC of his Paytm account needs to be updated. Believing them, he provided the information to them,” the official of Vartak Nagar police station said. “They also asked him to make a token transaction of Re one from his Paytm account for verification. He did so. However, on December 24- he received a series of messages on his phone informing him that Rs 13,09,911 had been deducted from his two bank accounts linked to Paytm,” he said. A case has been registered against the accused. (PTI)
‘Drunk’ teachers misbehave with kids
Aurangabad: Students of a Zilla Parishad school in Aurangabad in Maharashtra have complained that their teachers were drunk during a recent excursion and misbehaved with them, following which an inquiry was instituted, an official said on Sunday. The trip left for the state’s Konkan region on December 21 and the alleged incidents happened on Christmas in Diveagar in Raigad district, an official told PTI. “On December 25, the group was in Diveagar. Students have said teachers and non-teaching staff were drunk and tried to misbehave with them. Parents came to the school on Saturday over the allegations and then approached Soyegaon police station,” he said. “The parents of the students gave us an application in which they have detailed the drunken conduct of the teachers. We will speak to teachers, staff, drivers of state transport buses booked to ferry the group,” Assistant Inspector Sudam Shirsat of Soyegaon police station said. Shirsat said Diveagar police had informed that the teachers were drunk and had been taken to the police station there. Education Officer Surajprasad Jaiswal said the Zilla Parishad had constituted a committee to probe the incident and action will be taken once it submits a report. (PTI)