Bengaluru: Event manager held for trapping, blackmailing, raping models

[email protected] (Bangalore Mirror)
February 8, 2017

Bengaluru, Feb 8: A Bengaluru-based event manager has been arrested on charges of drugging, raping and blackmailing a young model. After arresting Pragdish Kapoor, the police also found several videos and photos of other models on his phone and laptop, which he had allegedly been using to blackmail and rape the women.Master

Kapoor was busted by Sakshi (name changed), a 17-year-old model from Mumbai, now based in Bengaluru. The class 11 student, who also took up modelling assignments on the side, was contacted by Kapoor recently. He claimed he hired models for fashion shows and was looking to get Sakshi for an assignment.

"We exchanged numbers as he came across as a professional contact. But soon, he started calling up regularly, insisting that we meet to discuss work. By February 5, he had become extremely persistent, claiming he was near my house and wanted to speak with me. My mother dropped me till his car. She spoke with him and he reassured her. He then took me to his place in Ramamurthy Nagar," said Sakshi.

"As soon as we entered his house, he locked the door and stopped pretending. He directly asked me to have sex with him. I was shocked and told him I wasn't well and wanted to leave. But he forcibly made me drink a glass of milk, which made me drowsy. He then raped and videographed me. When I asked him to delete it, he said he would do so if I sleep with him again," said Sakshi.

According to the young woman, he then sent her back home in a cab. She told a close friend about the incident, who took her to the commissioner's office and a case was registered.

As soon as the FIR was lodged, the Ramamurthy Nagar police started looking for Kapoor, and within the next few hours, he was arrested. But when the police officials started questioning him, they came to know that Sakshi wasn't an exception. He had been regularly trapping and raping models in the city. The evidence was all over his phone and laptop.

A senior police officer, who is part of the investigation, said they were going deeper into the case to find out how many others were similarly exploited. The case, the official said, brings to the fore the dangers women in the fashion industry face from predators. "Our investigation in this case has shown that there are several others like Sakshi who are sexually exploited and blackmailed," said the officer.

The police have registered a case of rape and have also invoked the POCSO Act against Kapoor because the model is a minor.

Comments

shaji
 - 
Wednesday, 8 Feb 2017

Cut private organ of this rapist so that he can feel the pain. Less punishment will encourage him and like minded people to carry on such things. its also unfortunate that girls are tendign towards fashion world to get popularity and money. How come her mother let her go with one unkown person alone. May be her mother also looking to earn money through her daughter. Girls are giving chance to such people to rape her. Girls are also equally responsible for this. Weak law and punishment is encouraging people for rape. There should be capital punishment.

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News Network
June 4,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 4: All shops, offices, malls, commercial establishments and others in Karnataka must not allow Covid-stamped people to enter their premises before the completion of the prescribed quarantine time, said a top official on Wednesday.

"They should not allow those with quarantine stamp to enter before the end of their quarantine period or till they get current Covid negative test report," ordered Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar.

Bhaskar has also issued the order to all religious places, hotels and others to first check for quarantine stamp on all their customers or visitors before they enter the premises.

"All shops, commercial establishments, offices, factories, malls, religious places, hotels and etc.. are required to check for quarantine stamp on all their customers or visitors before they enter the premises," he said.

In the event of a violation, Bhaskar said the police should be informed at 100.

He issued the same order to the general public and resident welfare associations asking them to be vigilant.

"General public and resident welfare associations are advised to report any violation of the quarantine in their neighbourhood to the police at telephone number 100," said the chief secretary.

The orders came under the head aRole of general public, resident welfare associations and commercial establishments''.

General public, commercial establishments and resident welfare associations have been empowered to report quarantine violations at a time when many activities are set to reopen from June 8 as part of Unlock - 1, after more than two months of lockdown.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 10: Two Iranian nationals have been arrested by the Karnataka police for allegedly stealing money from car showrooms by diverting cashiers’ attention in Mangaluru, Udupi and Bengaluru.

The arrested are Saeed Rostami, 26 and his friend Saber Hossein Eghbalzadeh, 35, are both residents of Tehran and in India on tourist visa. They were caught by the sleuths of Bengaluru’s RMC Yard police station.

The accused would approach the cashiers, asking for change for Rs 2000 notes to divert their attention and flee with cash from the showroom. 

The duo landed in New Delhi on January 16. Later, they arrived in coastal Karnataka before reaching Bengaluru on February 1. 

The same day around 4pm, the two visited Trident Automobile Pvt Ltd’s service centre in RMC Yard. They went to cashier Kiran and sought change for Rs 2000. One of them dropped the note and Kiran picked it up for him. Meanwhile, Kiran also noticed there was no change in his cash box and informed the duo accordingly. 

“Kiran later realised Rs 44,000 was missing from the cash box. He verified CCTV footage and found the two visitors stole the money when he bent down to pick up the Rs 2000 note,” a police officer said.

Kiran filed a theft and cheating case against the men. RMC Yard police suggested Kiran circulate the footage at other car showrooms and service centres as they had heard about similar incidents being reported from Udupi, Mangaluru and other places in Bengaluru.

“Sharing of CCTV footage helped us nab the suspects. They visited a showroom near Cauvery junction on Ballari Road on February 6. The staff noticed the duo and realised they were the same guys, who had stolen the money at RMC Yard and informed us,” said police.

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News Network
June 9,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 9: JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday filed his nomination as party's candidate for June 19 Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka.

The former Prime Minister was accompanied by his sons former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and former Minister H D Revanna, state JD(S) chief H K Kumaraswamy and others, as he filed his papers at the office of Legislative Assembly Secretary M K Vishalakshi, who is the returning officer for the polls. JD(S) on Monday had announced that Gowda will be contesting the Rajya Sabha polls.

Announcing the decision, Kumaraswamy had said Gowda decided to contest following the request of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, several national leaders and party legislators, and it was not an easy task to "persuade" him to enter the Rajya Sabha.

The JD(S), which has 34 seats in the assembly, is not in a position to win a seat in Rajya Sabha on its own and will need support from the Congress with its surplus votes. A minimum of 45 votes are required for a candidate to win. If he wins, this will be the second Rajya Sabha entry for 87-year-old Gowda, the first time being in 1996 as the Prime Minister.

Gowda was defeated in Tumkur constituency by BJP's G S Basavaraj by over 13,000 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. As joint candidate of the then ruling Congress-JDS coalition, Gowda had chosen to contest from Tumkur at the last minute after vacating Hassan-his home turf, to grandson Prajwal Revanna (a current MP).

Election is scheduled on June 19 to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka, represented by Rajeev Gowda and BK Hariprasad of Congress, Prabhakar Kore of the BJP and D Kupendra Reddy of JD(S) that will fall vacant on June 25, with their retirement. Today is the last date for filing nominations. With BJP not fielding any candidate against Gowda, his election is likely to be unanimous.

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