Crime file: Teacher ‘elopes’ with student, held in Pune

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Teacher ‘elopes’ with student, held in Pune
Naushad Bijapur | DC
Belgaum: A 32-year-old school teacher who allegedly kidnapped a 13-year-old girl student from his school in Gokak and stayed in various hotels in Maharashtra for the last 15 days, has been nabbed by the police.
During interrogation, the physical education teacher confessed to having a secret love affair with the minor girl and claimed that they decided to elope on August 12 midnight.
The teacher, Mahesh Parandikar, got close to the girl while taking classes for class eight. According to Gokak circle police inspector, S.B. Lokapur, both the teacher and the girl were interrogated by police officials after their medical tests were conducted.
After kidnapping the girl, the teacher took her first to Kolhapur where they stayed for a few days and later to different hotels in Vishalgad, Satara and Puna.
Police officials in Pune got a tip off about the two staying in a hotel at Swargate locality in Pune on Wednesday evening and caught them.
A team of police officials from Belgaum rushed to Pune and arrested the teacher before getting them back to Belgaum.
Superintendent of police Chandragupta interrogated the teacher and got his medical test conducted before registering a case of kidnap against him.
Soon after the girl went missing, her parents had lodged a complaint with Gokak police. Later, the photos of the missing girl were published in various newspapers and a prize of RS 5 lakh was announced by her parents for those who helped trace her.
The girl was a good karate player and learnt the art of Karate from Parandikar. A day before they eloped, Parandikar had taken the girl to a karate contest held in Dharwad. On returning to Gokak on August 12, both of them eloped to Kolhapur.
According to Parandikar, the girl threatened to end her life in case he refused to elope with her.
Next: TN man smuggling gold on plane dozes off, nabbed

TN man smuggling gold on plane dozes off, nabbed
Kochi: Five kg of gold bars, valued at Rs 1.40 crore, were seized from a passenger who arrived here from Sharjah by the customs officials.
The passenger, Vafsamaraikyar Habeer of Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, who had kept the gold bars in his laptop bag when he embarked the flight, had planned to tape the gold bars on his leg inside the toilet just before the flight landed at Kochi.
However, his plans went haywire as he dozed off and woke up after the flight reached Kochi airport at 5.20 am Wednesday and the passengers had started disembarking, customs sources said.
The flight was to leave on its domestic leg for Chennai and the man then hid the bars under the seat using adhesive tapes to stick them.
It is suspected that the accused must have passed on the seat number to the consignor who had entrusted him the gold bars.
Customs officials suspect that the plan was that the gold bars would be taken out after the flight reached Chennai when the passengers are not screened.
However, a fellow passenger is said to have tipped-off the customs officials who conducted a search and made the seizure.
The passenger, who was arrested before he left Kochi airport, was booked under the Customs Act, 1962. Customs officials claimed it to be the biggest haul from a single passenger in Kerala.
Earlier, customs officials had seized 18 kg of gold bars worth over Rs 4 crore on different occasions from the airport.
Next: Goldsmith freed, 3 abductors held

Goldsmith freed, 3 abductors held
Hyderabad: The North Zone police on Thursday rescued Sandip Mohuri, a 29-year-old goldsmith, who was kidnapped on Wednesday and tortured by eight people.
The kidnappers had sought a ransom of Rs 6 lakh from Sandip’s family. Sandip was rescued from a building at Kawadiguda after three abductors were arrested on Thursday. Indrajit Kole, who runs a gold business at Kawadiguda, and his associates had kidnapped Sandip to recover stolen gold.
“The victim’s friend Hiralal had stolen seventola gold ornaments from Indrajit in the past. The accused then kidnapped Mohuri and tortured him to recover the property,” said North Zone DCP R. Jayalakshmi.
North Zone police swung into action after the victim’s relative approached the DCP. Apart from Indrajit, cops also arrested his brother Sanjay Kole and Sona Pandit, a goldsmith from Kawadiguda. Five others are absconding.
Next: Racketeers employ new methods to smuggle gold 

Racketeers employ new methods to smuggle gold 
Kochi: The seizure of five kilograms of gold worth RS 1.41 crore from a Jet Airways flight from Sharjah at Nedumbassery airport on Wednesday has shed light on  a new technique employed by the rackets to smuggle gold into the country.
The seized bars were attached using duct tapes under a seat in  the flight in a bid to avoid customs checking at the green channel. The same flight was on a domestic service to Chennai later which the racket was trying to capitalise on and smuggle out the gold bars as domestic services do not have customs checking.
The gold bars were first found by the flight staff when they cleaned it shortly after the international trip. The gold was concealed under seat No. 29A in easily removable position.
The staff immediately alerted the customs sleuths who intercepted the passenger who occupied the seat. The arrested, identified as Vafsamaraikayar Habeer of Thiruvadanai at Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu, was held before he could escape from the airport premises.
Though he confessed that he slept off after attaching the gold bars and hence could not take out the bars before exiting the flight, the customs sleuths are not swallowing his statements. They believe there must be another person who was waiting to board the same flight from Kochi to Chennai and smuggle out the gold bars without being stopped by the customs.
This was the largest seizure from a single passenger  recently in Kerala. The arrested was charged under section 104 of the Customs Act, 1962 and is being questioned in a bid to collect more details about the modus operandi of the racket. 
Next: Man gets noose for Mavelikara double murder

Man gets noose for Mavelikara double murder
Alappuzha: Santhosh Kumar, 35, Valiyavilayil, Umbarnad near Mavelikara, a convict in the twin-murder case, was sentenced to death by Mavelikara additional district and sessions court-I  judge M.R. Anita on Thursday.
The court observed that the case was the rarest of rare as the convict had carried out the crime without  reason or  provocation, Sam Varghese, special prosecutor, said. The death penalty was awarded under section 302 IPC  (culpable homicide). 
The court had found the accused guilty on Tuesday. The murder  took place on June 26, 2006 near  the Mavalikkara railway station at 9.45 p.m. following a dispute over  cigarettes.  
Shop owner Suresh, 34, Suresh Bhavan, Umbarnad and his relative Prasannan,33, Prasanna Bhavan, Muthukulam north here  were stabbed by the convict  in front of his shop. Both died  in the  hospital hours after the incident.
At least 31 witnesses and 29 pieces of evidence were produced by the prosecution.
Next: Two suspects in rape case produced in court

Two suspects in rape case produced in court
Hyderabad: The two suspects, who were arrested for raping and filming the incident in a textile shop at Pathergatti near Charminar, were produced before the court on Thursday.
Forty-year-old Amjad, the owner of Afzal’s Collections, and his friend Md. Faheem, 41, were arrested by Charminar police on Wednesday following a complaint from the 30-year-old victim.
During investigation, the police also found that two more people were involved in the case. “We have found that one of Amjad’s friends, Mubeen, had uploaded the video on pornographic websit-es.
Another person, Rashid, a friend of Faheem, had circulated the video clips among his friends,” said Charminar inspector S. Mohan Kumar. A manhunt has been launched to trace them.
The victim was allegedly drugged by the accused at Afzal’s Collection textiles building  and was raped. The entire act was filmed and was uploaded in pornographic websites apart from circulating among the locals.
The police found that the victim was a relative of the accused, and they committed the offence to avenge a property dispute in the family.
Next: Woman steals newborn, nabbed

Woman steals newborn, nabbed
Kottayam: A woman, identified  as Sivaranajini, 26, a resident of Rosapookandam near Kumaly was arrested by Kanjirapally police on Thursday afternoon, while she was allegedly trying to flee with a newborn baby child.
According to the police, she came to Kanjirapally where her husband was doing daily wage work. Police says that the lady went to a private  hospital at Kanjirapally on Wednesday evening, a hospital exclusive for treating pregnant women, and befriended a lady  who had recently delivered a baby. She gained access at the hospital after dressing up as a pregnant lady.
"In our investigation we found that the lady had befriended the lady and her son, and when the boy went for buying a recharge card, she absconded with a thirteen day old newborn baby. Immediately, the incident was informed at the Kanjirapally police station. The sub inspector of police  found her in a vehicle in Mundakkayam trying to flee with the new born male baby.
She was taken into custody, from the KSRTC bus at Mundakkayam and a case will be registered for abducting the child", Kanjirapally CI, Kunjumon told DC.
The child recovered from the lady was given preliminary treatment at a hospital, and was given back to the child's mother.
Kunjumon said police had taken the lady to verify her exact name and whereabouts. He said that police will also look into the aspect including whether the lady is part of any racket which takes part in  abducting new born babies.
Next: Three held for theft of 17 tonne steel from VPT

Three held for theft of 17 tonne steel from VPT
Visakhapatnam: City police, on Thursday, arrested three persons, who teamed up and robbed about 17 tonne of steel, worth over Rs 8 lakh, near Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) area under Harbor police station limits in the city and recovered a substantial quantity of steel and RS 2.6 lakh cash from them.
The steel rods were stored at the VPT for extension of a berth, which was taken up by the AMR Construction Company, few months back.
However, the construction work didn’t take off as the management of VPT cancelled the contract with AMR Company. B. Naidu Babu, who supplies manpower to the AMR Company decided to steal the steel as the company didn’t pay some amount for his services and joined hands with site supervisor P. Ramprasad of Kagarwal construction company, who was doing some other contract.
The duo, with the help of workers at the spot, loaded around 17 tonne of steel, belonging to AMR, in a truck and using the entry and exit passes of the Kagarwal company, the truck came out of VPT.The duo sold the steel to a scrap merchant, M. Srinivas, at Rs3 lakh and the steel was stored in Srinivas’s godown at Autonagar area in the city.
Srinivasa Rao, of AMR Company, who came to know that the steel was robbed, lodged a complaint at Harbour police station on August 18. Cops laid a trap and arrested Naidu Babu who confessed to have stolen the steel.
Next: Gang attacks Yanam jail

Gang attacks Yanam jail
Vadrevu Srinivas | DC
Kakinada: Prison officials and the Yanam police foiled a murder attempt on an inmate in the early hours of Thursday at the Yanam sub-jail and apprehended 13 history-sheeters.
According to sources, 14 men had reached Yan-am three days back to break into the jail and kill one Manikanthan, who is undergoing a life sentence. They reached the Yanam jail and tied jail warden Sekhar outside.
They then tried to climb the jail’s 24-foot wall with ropes and ladders. However, another jail warden, Ananda Raju, saw the miscreants and sounded the siren and alerted the Yanam police.
When the cops, headed by superintendent of police P. Purushot-haman arrived, the miscreants tried to flee but eight of them were apprehended on the spot.
The police subsequently searched in Uppongala, Lachipalem and nearby places in Tallarevu mandal and caught five more accused and seized their vehicle at Draksharama in East Godavari.
“As many as 13 accused were arrested. However, the main accused, Ashwin, is still missing. Also, the men we nabbed are not revealing their original names,” said Mr Purushothaman.
According to sources, the murder attempt was a fallout of rivalry between three groups of history-sheeters in Puducherry headed by Manikanthan, Karna and Jagan.
“The three had been sentenced by a court at Puducherry. However, Manikanthan and Karna were shifted to the Yanam jail as they were involved in some criminal activities in the Puducherry jail. Meanwhile, Manikanthan had allegedly got Jagan killed at Puducherry while he was on his way from the court.“A CBI inquiry was done in the incident and investigation officials found four cellphones and 18 SIM cards in Manikanthan’s cell in Yanam jail. Apparently, Manikanthan orchestrated the operation with the help of some jail officials in Yanam.
The Puducherry government had suspended a jailer, Seetharama Raju, and four constables two months back following this,” said sources.
It is learnt that Thursday’s attack on Mainkanthan was planned to avenge Jagan’s killing.
Next: Three murdered in separate incidents

Three murdered in separate incidents
Bengaluru: Three persons, including a rowdy, were murdered in the city in separate incidents. A rowdy was dragged out of his house in Byappanahalli Fourth Cross and brutally hacked to death by his own gang members on Wednesday night. The brother of the deceased, who tried to save him, was also attacked by the assailants.
The deceased has been identified as Saravana (26). His injured brother Shanmugam (23) has been admitted to a private hospital and is recovering.
Police said that Saravana was involved in a kidnap and murder case that was reported in 2006. He had allegedly murdered one Gopal, after receiving supari from his wife and her paramour. The trio along with others had kidnapped Gopal in a car and murdered him.
The police have identified the killers as Krishna, Bharat, Dileep, Manja, Mutthu, Dinakar, John, Rama and Nagendra. Byappanahalli police have registered a case and are on the look out for the absconding assailants.
In other incidents two people, including a school security guard from Nepal, were found murdered in JP Nagar police station limits on Thursday morning. The murders reportedly occurred in JP Nagar 5th and 6th Phase. Raghu Singh (35), the guard of Royal School in JP Nagar 6th Phase
was found murdered outside the school premises. The non-teaching staff, who had came for work on Thursday, found him dead and informed the police.
He was deputed to the school by RK Security Agency. The miscreants killed him by smashing his head with a boulder. The reason for the murder is yet to be ascertained, the police said.
In the third incident a 25-year-old unidentified man was hacked to death in JP Nagar 5th Phase and it came to light on Thursday morning. It appears the person might have been killed by someone known to him. The body was found opposite the AV Education Society in JP Nagar 5th phase.