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
May 5,2020

Mangaluru, May 5: As many as 7,119 labourers, who were stranded in Dakshina Kannada district, were sent to their native places in buses operated by KSRTC’s Mangaluru and Puttur divisions.

After the announcement of lockdown, the stranded labourers were provided shelter in various halls, Town Hall and government hostels in the district.

The stranded labourers from Kuloor, Panjimogaru, Panambur, Baikampady, Yeyyadi, Mulki, Ullal, Bunder, Hoige Bazar and from taluk centres, who wished to take up farming activities in their villages, were sent back in KSRTC and private buses. As many as 266 buses were engaged for ferrying the labourers.

The labourers underwent health check-up prior to their departure to their native villages, Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh said.

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News Network
April 16,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 16: An old refrigerator has been turned into a "disinfection chamber" by researchers who are striving to come up with solutions to tackle the spread of coronavirus.

Dr Arun M Isloor, head of Chemistry Department, National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal, along with research scholar Syed Ibrahim has come up with the device which can disinfect items kept inside it.

"We have named this as ZERO-COV," Dr Isloor said.

He says the device ensures 99.9 per cent destruction of microorganisms present on the surface of items.

"We can keep items like vegetables, currency notes, books or envelopes inside the chamber. Switching on the chamber for 15 minutes ensures 99.9 per cent destruction of microorganisms present in the surface of the items," Dr Isloor added.

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News Network
April 1,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 1: Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu on Wednesday said that 200 people, out of 342 from the state who had attended the religious gathering at Markaz building in Delhi's Nizamuddin area, have been quarantined.

"200 people including four from Bengaluru and five from Belgaum, who participated in Tablighi Jamaat (in Delhi's Nizamuddin), have been quarantined. Total 342 people from Karnataka had attended the event," Sriramulu told reporters here.

The gatherings organised by the Tablighi Jamaat at the Markaz building in Nizamuddin came into the spotlight after multiple coronavirus cases were confirmed amongst those who attended the event held in March.
Twenty-four cases were reported from the national capital alone, apart from Telangana, the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands amongst others.

The minister had earlier said that Bengaluru Urban and Mysuru have been identified among the prime 25 COVID-19 hotspots in the country.
Chikkaballapur, since the last fourteen days, has been emerging as another hotspot, according to Sriramulu.

The total number of coronavirus cases in India has risen to 1,637 after 240 new cases were reported in the country, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on Wednesday.

The total number of active cases rose to 1466 in the country, while 132 people have been cured and discharged after receiving treatment, as of 9 am.

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