4-year-old raped by neighbour in Bengaluru
Praveen Kumar I DC
Bengaluru: A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her pedophile neighbour in Bengaluru's South-East division when her mother had gone to the hospital for the delivery of her third child on June 23.
The accused is suspected to have been involved in similar offences in his native Bihar and has been arrested by the police. The girl, also a native of Bihar, was allegedly raped by her 21-year-old neighbour identified as S. Premananda, a resident of Boganahalli village near Varthur on Sunday night. The victim’s 34-year-old father had left for work in the afternoon and around 7.30 pm, his wife telephoned him asking him to get back home as her labour pain was increasing.
By the time, he reached home the neighbours had taken his wife to Varthur government hospital accompanied by their landlord. As he was unable to see his elder daughter (the victim), he enquired with his neighbours, but rushed to the hospital to be with his wife. By the time, he reached the hospital, his wife had given birth to his third daughter. After completing the formalities at the hospital, he rushed back home looking for his elder daughter.
It was 12 midnight and he found everyone fast asleep. He still woke up his neighbour asking for his daughter and found her sleeping inside the house. The girl then started complaining about severe pain in her private parts.
En route to the hospital, the victim pointed to an isolated place and said she was brought there by the accused in the evening. On realizing what had happened, the father took his daughter to Vydehi Hospital in Whitefield. The accused was arrested and remanded to judicial custody after being subjected to medical tests.
Next: Man murders wife over money demand

Man murders wife over money demand
Bengaluru: Enraged over his wife’s repeated demands for money to run the household, a 33-year-old luggage auto driver killed his 29-year-old wife by strangling her with a plastic clothesline in Byatarayanapura police limits on Wednesday night.
The deceased has been identified as Meher Taj, wife of Abdul Aziz. The couple lived near Shammanna Gardens in Byatarayanapura, and had two daughters.
Police said Abdul Aziz had taken his family to visit a dargah in Shivanasamudra on Wednesday. When they got back to the city around 7 pm, Meher asked Abdul to bring dinner from a nearby hotel.
After dinner, Abdul dropped off the children at their grandmother’s house. When he returned around 11:30 pm, Meher reportedly began asking him for money to buy groceries. Abdul said that he would give her his earnings on Thursday.
However, Meher allegedly continued to pester Abdul, even taunting him that he was lying. This led to a bitter tiff, and in a fit of rage, Abdul strangled Meher who died instantly.
Abdul fled the house and reached his friends’ home where he told them about the murder. His friends Chand Pasha and Shahid Khan took the accused to Byatrayanapura police station where he surrendered. Meher was Abdul’s second wife, and she also had been married before, added the police.
Next: 2 held in Rs 20-cr forex trade fraud

2 held in Rs 20-cr forex trade fraud
Kochi: City police on Thursday arrested two persons in connection with the aroundRs  20 cr forex trade and investment fraud. According to police, the two arrested, Antony Devassia (36) and K. Jaikuttan (38), had been operating a firm Wismore Trading and Investment Consultancy Pvt Ltd at Chakkaraparambu near Palarivattom.
The operations began in 2011 and the modus operandi was to collect money from people promising them huge returns. The interest offered ranged from 10 per cent to 15 every month. Initially, they offered more than Rs10,000 for an investment of Rs 1 lakh.

Antony Devassia (left) and Jaikuttan —DC
This was paid regularly for at least three months to gain the confidence of the investor, attracting more investments.The duo had been into share market trade for some time. It was on this basis that they got into the investment and forex trade racket, police said.The money collected was deposited in another firm Wismore Trading FZC operating out of Ajman Free Zone in Dubai on the basis of fluctuations in currency value.
City police commissioner K.G. James had received information regarding the shady operations and put the Palarivattom police on alert.It was around this time that the police received two complaints, one from Roy Mammen of Elamakkara that he had been cheated of Rs 67 lakh and another from one Vinod of Edappally stating that he had lost Rs 43 lakh. Preliminary investigation revealed that more than 60 people had been cheated.
Police said that a number of people from Aluva, Kodungaloor, Cherthala and Kottayam. Documents seized from the offices showed that there were offices in Chennai and Hyderabad and Palarivattom police was in touch with their counterparts there, police added.
Next: Airport sees steep rise in smuggling

Airport sees steep rise in smuggling
P.A. Jebaraj | DC
Chennai: Within a week of confiscating gold worth Rs 2.5 crore that had been smuggled from Colombo by a team of five passengers, customs officials on Wednesday seized two kg of gold ornaments and biscuits worth Rs 54 lakh from a passenger who landed from Singapore on a Tiger Airways flight.
Airport sources said the Malaysian-Tamil Kumar Kuttiyappan, 41, who was on a visit to Chennai on a tourist visa, was found carrying gold jewellery and biscuits in a parcel wrapped in black carbon paper. They said customs sleuths got suspicious after he failed to provide proper answers to their queries.“The officials checked his baggage and found undeclared gold. The officials seized the gold and arrested him,” said the airport source, adding that smuggling has incre­ased recently by city. According to official statistics, Rs 4.25 crore worth gold has been seized at the airport since April this year.
In the whole of 2012, customs officials had seized only Rs 8.38 crore worth of gold. “The rise in smuggling by air is mainly due to insufficient customs officials. Half the sanctioned strength has not been filled in the airport customs office,” said a senior customs official.
He added that a minimum of 216 employees are needed to manage the customs operations in two shifts, but the department is working at only half that strength. Further­more, the number of international passengers has also gone up with the customs sleuths needing to handle 8,000 to 10,000 passengers per night instead of the earlier 5,500 to 6,000 passengers.
“The passenger count increases during the weekend and so we struggle to maintain proper vigil, which prompts more anti-social elements to try smuggling banned substances ,” the official added.
Next: Banned Tobacco products seized from city house

Banned Tobacco products seized from city house
Chennai: Banned gutkha and pan products worth Rs 1 lakh stocked in a house in Kilpauk was seized by food safety officials on Thurs­day. Officials from the department of food safety and drug administration have been conducting several such raids in the recent past.
On Wednesday too they had seized around 19.5 kgs of gutkha and pan products in surprise raids across the city. 
According to officials, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kilpauk identified that banned products were stored in a house during night patrol and forwarded it to the Corporation health officials who seized around 1020 kg of banned gutkha products.
The seizure has brought smiles to the faces of several Chennaities who say that hospital walls and other public buildings will soon be immune from pan stain.
“Previously, they used to sell these products even near schools. It’s good that officials are following up on the ban with raids like these.” said Deepthi. 
While food safety inspector Sadasivam said the department would continue such raids in coming days, seized products are taken to Kodungaiyur dump yard to be destroyed.
Next: Gang rivalry ends in abduction

Gang rivalry ends in abduction
Chennai: An incident of gang rivalry that had led to revenge kidnapping ended with the police rescuing a 22 year-old youth. He was a member of a gang in Ambedkar Nagar in Adambakkam and had been kidnapped by another gang to settle an earlier incident of abduction. On Wednesday night, police arrested the leader of the group of abductors. 
Nagoor Meeran, 28  of Adambakkam, was the gang leader arrested for allegedly kidnapping Vinod Kumar, member of T.V. Senthil’s gang from the same area. Vinod Kumar was rescued from a room in Pazhavanthagal in the wake of Meeran being caught after a vehicle chase in Guindy on Wednesday night.
“As soon as Meeran was caught, four of his gang members who had been torturing Vinod Kumar in captivity abandoned him and escaped in a vehicle which had been used to abduct Vinod on Wednesday afternoon,” police said on Thursday.
According to the police, a gang rivalry between Meeran and Senthil had been going on for last few months. Last week Senthil’s gang had abducted and tortured Manikan­dan, a member of Meeran’s group.
To avenge this, Meeran’s men had abducted Vinod on Wednesday. The police had come to know about the abduction after Vinod’s parents lodged a complaint.
Next: Woman inspector held for taking bribe from accused

Woman inspector held for taking bribe from accusedTiruchy: An inspector of all women police station in Thiruverumbur and a broker were trapped and arrested by DVAC sleuths on Thursday when the duo accepted a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a person to return his passport.
Based on a complaint by Rajeswari of Thiruverumbur, police registered a case against her husband Venkatesan of Thiruvanaikoil, and his father Selvam, mother Sakunthala and relative Jeevarathinam on charge of harassing  the complainant for dowry.
Following this, inspector Karthiyayini of the AWPS in Thiruverumbur confiscated the passport of Venkatesan. Venkatesan pleaded her to return the passport but she allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 25,000.
After a hard bargain, she asked him to give Rs 10,000 in the first phase. Venkatesan reported the matter to DVAC DSP Thangadurai in Tiru­chy.  A trap was laid at the all women police station in Thiruverumbur.
As instructed, Venkatesan went to the police station on Thursday and paid a bribe of Rs 10,000 to Christopher, who in turn handed it over to inspector Karthiyayini. By this time, the DVAC sleuths led by DSP Thangadurai caught both of them red-handed and recovered the bribe.
Next: ‘BPO’ man held for burglaries

‘BPO’ man held for burglariesChennai: A 23-year-old native of Karnataka had been telling his family and neighbours that he works in a BPO until police came knocking at his door.
It appears he is a common thief as cops arrested N. Manjunathan for committing a series of burglaries in locked houses in Chennai in the last four years. As many as 311 gold sovereigns worth over Rs 65 lakh have been recovered from him.
Manjunathan, who resi­des with his parents in Mettukuppam in Madhura­voyil, was trained in computer applications and used to snap alarm and surveillance camera connections before executing burglaries. In order to leave no evidence behind, he also used to take away the digital video recorder from the surveillance cameras.The police believe that he had burgled at least more than 600 sovereigns of gold from at least 25 houses and had been selling or pledging the stolen gold ornaments at well-known shops in the city. He had sold gold at least 36 times at GR Than­gamaligai and 25 times at Sri Kumaran Thangama­ligai in T Nagar after giving his genuine address.
“It is difficult to believe that the jewellery employees never doubted the intention of Manjunathan, who had visited their shop six or eight times a month,” the police said. “He had been selling the stolen goods and buying new pieces at the shop. He then sells the new gold ornaments at the same shops.
He used to spend lavishly with his friends and even took rooms in hotels to enjoy with friends but always told his parents that he was working overtime in office,” police said.
Next: Man found murdered in lakebed

Man found murdered in lakebed
Chennai: A man was found murdered in a lake bed in Ambattur on Thursday morning, his limbs gruesomely cut from his body. The police identified the deceased as Suresh, 37, of Gandhi Nagar in Oraga­dam, Kanchipuram district.
Suresh had left home after informing his wife he was going to attend a wedding in Ponneri before going to work in Irunga­ttukottai.
As he failed to return home in the evening, his wife, mother of two, started frantically looking for him after she found his mobile in switched off mode. She lodged a complaint with the police. It was with Anitha’s help that the police identified the body found on the Shanmugha­puram lake bed on Thursday.
“There cut injuries on his wrist and ankles,” the police said. “We are trying to find out if the deceased had any kind of previous enmity with some people,” the police said.
Next: Driver suffocates to death under truckload of sand

Driver suffocates to death under truckload of sand
Chennai: A 23-year-old driver of a sand laden lorry was killed after he lost control of the vehicle and the lorry fell into a fenced pit dug for Metro Rail work on GST Road in Meenambakkam on Wednesday night.
V. Chinna of Sriperu­mbudur, was transporting sand from the Palar river bed to Chennai when he lost control. “At 2.30 am he slammed his vehicle against the fencing around the pit.
The lorry fell on its side and it appeared as if he was thrown off from his seat. The sand slid on him leading to his death due to suffocation,” the police said. They suspect the driver could have dozed off while driving at night.