Crime file: Man gets five year jail for trying to rape toddler in temple, Man kills 13-day-old daughter; Harassed by neighbour, and more

New Delhi: A man, who had attempted to rape a two-and-a-half-year-old child inside a temple, has been jailed for five years by a Delhi court which said instances of minor girls being victim to such 'nefarious acts' are rising.

Additional Sessions Judge Illa Rawat held Delhi resident Bhupender guilty of trying to rape the toddler and said that he does not deserve any leniency.

"The act of convict (Bhupender), is not only gruesome, but has had far fetched and irreparable consequences on the psychology of the victim child, who till date is afraid of being in a closed room.

"The instances of minor girls being victim to such nefarious acts and deeds are on rise and thus, no leniency is called for in the matter," the court said and also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him.

It directed the Delhi government to pay a compensation of Rs one lakh to the victim for her welfare and rehabilitation under the 'Restorative and Compensatory Justice' scheme.

The court noted that offence was committed by the convict in broad day light at a "very sacred yet secluded place i.e. Parikarama area behind the place, where the Idol were kept in a Temple".

"Had it not been for the vigilant mother of the victim child, who went in search for her within 10 minutes of her leaving the house to buy something for herself, the convict could have succeeded in ravishing the minor child to satisfy his lust," it noted.

According to police, the incident took place in September last year when the girl had gone to a shop in vicinity of her house to buy toffees and Bhupender picked her up and took her to 'Parikarama' area in a temple in Jahangir Puri here.

He tried to rape the child but she was saved with the timely intervention of her mother who, while searching for her, reached in the room after hearing her cries.

The child rushed towards her mother crying and the man was caught at the spot by the woman who raised an alarm. During the trial, Bhupender had claimed innocent that he has been falsely implicated in the case by the parents of the child merely on suspicion.

Guntur: In a barbaric act, a mason smashed his 13-day-old daughter’s head against a stone, and killed her in the Saturlur village of Guntur district on Friday. Police said that Shaik Umar was unhappy as his wife Hussain Bi had given birth to a girl child.

Hyderabad: A newborn baby boy was found dead in a dustbin near Raj Bhavan road on Friday. SI Man Singh said that in the morning at around 7.30, people noticed the one-and-a-half-month-old boy in a dustbin on the road towards Necklace Road railway station.

The couple recently celebrated their child’s first birthday. Mounika’s mother-in-law had demanded a gold chain for the child. Inspector L.C. Naik said that on Monday Mounika poured kerosene on herself and set herself ablaze.

She was shifted to hospital, and she died late on Thursday. In another case, K. Kavitha, 30, wife of K. Sudhakar Reddy, burnt herself to death allegedly due to harassment by her husband. The victim’s family said Sudhakar used to harass her. On Sunday, she set herself ablaze at her house. She died later in the hospital.

Next: Man loots Rs 2 lakh at gunpoint

Man loots Rs 2 lakh at gunpoint

Chennai: An armed man fled with 150 sovereigns of gold ornaments and Rs 2 lakh from a house in NIK Avenue, Mettu­kuppam near Thuraipa­kkam after threatening to shoot a 20-year-old boy, who happened to return to the house on Friday afternoon.

Sathish, who discontinued his ITI course recently and had gone to a nearby shop, found the front door of his house broken open when he returned at around 3 pm. On entering the house, he saw the intruder and demanded to know who he was.

“Unfazed by Sathish’s entry, the intruder in turn asked to know who he was. When the boy told him he was the owner of the house, the man pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot him, before escaping with the valuables,” the police said.

“We are trying to get all the details from Sathish and fingerprint experts have combed the crime scene,” the police added.

Next: Abducted school kid found abandoned

Abducted school kid found abandoned

Puducherry: A 10-year-old boy, son of a pawnbroker, was allegedly kidnapped by unidentified persons near his house in Rainbow nagar on Thursday night for ransom. The boy was on Friday found abandoned near a private nursing home in Kamaraj nagar by the abductors after they realised that the police were close on their heels.

The police said the boy, Neeraj Patel, son of Manish Kumar Jain, was studying in class 4 at a private school in Thengaithittu, near here.

He had gone for tuition class near his house in Rainbow nagar at around 6 pm on Thursday. When he did not return home even after 8.30 pm, his father searched for him at his relatives’ and friends' homes.

On Thursday night, a man called Jain on his mobile and demanded a ransom of Rs 15 lakh for his son’s release.

Jain later lodged a complaint with the Grand Bazaar police station. The police alerted their counterparts in Cuddalore and Villupuram and launched a search for the abductors.

In the meanwhile, the boy was found abandoned near a private nursing home on Friday. R. Raju, an employee of a private cable network in Kamaraj nagar helped the boy reach his house after collecting his details.

A senior police official said the child had been sent for a medical examination to the government hospital and that they would commence investigation and interrogate the child after he was found fit.

“We have some definite clues and are working on them. We do not want to go into the details since the case has to be handled with utmost care. We will be able to arrest the culprits very soon,” he added.

Next: Woman killed by brother-in-law

Woman killed by brother-in-law

Chennai: A 35-year-old woman, a resident of Nesapakkam, was allegedly murdered by her husband's younger brother on Friday afternoon. The deceased was identified as Vennila, wife of Prabhu. The suspect, Jayaseelan, had absconded after the murder. According to the police, Jayaseelan was upset over his sister-in-law not being ready to feed him, particularly after his wife deserted him. On Friday afternoon, Jayaseelan, a construction worker, went to his brother's house for lunch but Vennila refused to serve him food. Angry over this, the drunk Jayaseelan stabbed the woman to death and fled.

Next: 45-yr-old woman stages grandson’s kidnapping, arrested

45-yr-old woman stages grandson’s kidnapping, arrested

Bangalore: A 45-year-old woman, who coo­k­ed up a kidnap story of her gra­n­dson, was arrested along with two of her accomplices by Mah­adevapura police on Friday.

The accused have been identified as Gayatri, 45, Anant Kumar, 30, and Ratnamma, 35, all residents of Byrappa Layout in Whitefield.

According to the police, Gayatri's daughter Supriya is married to Shankar, a teacher at a government high school, and the couple has a one-year-old son Hanish. On Wednesday afternoon, Gayatri, Supriya and Hanish had gone for a relative's wedding near Mahadevpura. Gayatri asked Supriya to take her to a mall on Mahadevapura Outer Ring Road. Gayatri was holding Hanish and as they came in front of the mall, she started shouting that someone snat­ched the baby and kidnapped him. As Supriya was walking in front of her, she had not seen who snatched the baby.

"The same evening, Gayatri filed a kidnapping case with the police, but investigations revealed that it was Gayatri who was behind the kidnap. She confessed during the interrogation that she had planned the kidnapping as she did not like her daughter living with Shankar and wanted to marry her off to someone else. She also alleged that Shankar was harassing Supriya for dowry and that forced her to cook up the kidnapping story. She thought that after the kidnapping, the couple would get separated," the police said.

"She hatched the plot with Anant Kumar, who is very close to her. It was Anant who snatched the baby from Gayatri and then had asked Ratnamma, his relative, to keep the baby with her for sometime," the police said.

Next: PhD student accuses guide of harassment, case booked

PhD student accuses guide of harassment, case booked

DC | K.N. Reddy

Gulbarga: Even as a PhD student of Gulbarga University has lodged a complaint accusing her guide of subjecting her to physical and mental harassment, university authorities are allegedly making efforts to hush up the case and arrive at a compromise.

According to the compl­aint lodged by the woman, who is in her second year of PhD programme, her guide and professor Dr Dashrath Naik, had been harassing her for the last year-and-a-half showing her pornographic pictures stored in his computer. Following the complaint, the police have seized the hard disc containing pornographic photos.

The woman has also complained that the guide took Rs 1 lakh from her brother through one of his res­e­arch scholars to approve her name for a stipend from the University Grants Commission. The police have recovered audio recordings of the conversation between the woman's brother and the guide in this regard.

The woman has complained that harassment became unbearable for the last one-and-a-half months and she decided to put an end to it by taking it up with the higher authorities.

She reportedly approa­ched University Registrar Dr Chandrakanth Yath­npur on November 25 with a letter highlighting the harassment she had been subjected to and sought protection from the guide.

As Vice-Chancellor Dr E.T. Puttaiah was leaving for Bangkok the next day, the registrar advised her to wait till the V-C returned.

On November 29, the girl lodged a complaint with the University police station and cases were registered under Sections 509 and 354 of the IPC. But as Chief Minister Siddaram­aiah’s visit to Gulbarga had been scheduled on Nove­mber 30 to participate in the Central University Pro­g­ramme, the police did not take up the investigation.

In the meantime, the woman reportedly came under pressure from university authorities as well as her family members to withdraw the case, and she had second thoughts on pursuing the case.

She met the police only on December 3 as her mother was unwell and told them that she needed two days to think whether to pursue the case.

When her relatives met the vice-chancellor in the presence of the police on December 2, they told the V-C that they would withdraw the case, provided Rs 1 lakh taken from the girl was returned, the guide was changed and a departmental inquiry was conducted and disciplinary action taken against the guide.

The vice-chancellor told Deccan Chronicle that he would immediately change the guide and order a departmental inquiry. “Based on the report, we will take action,” he informed.

Next: Youth held for smuggling liquor

Youth held for smuggling liquor

Villupuram: The police seized Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) smuggled from Puducherry and arrested a youth at Kiliyanur, near here, on Friday.

On a tip-off, a team was conducting vehicle checks near the Kiliyanur check-post when they intercepted a car coming from Puducherry. On seeing the police, the car driver tried to evade them and headed towards Villupuram.
The police gave chase and nabbed car driver V. Narendran of Chengalpet in Kanche­epuram district and seized 576 bottles of IMFL concealed in a compartment in the car. The accused admitted to smuggling the liquor from Puducherry to be sold to individuals in Chengalpet.

The car used for transporting the liquor has also been impounded. Further enquiries are on.