Bullied teen kills herself in front of her family

December 2, 2016

Texas City, Dec 2: Family members of a Houston-area high school student who killed herself are rallying for tighter laws against cyberbullying.

brandyBrandy Vela's family says cyberbullying pushed the 18-year-old over the edge, leading her to shoot herself in the chest Tuesday afternoon at the family's Texas City home as family members watched.

Her father, Raul Vela, said she had been receiving abusive text messages for months from bullies using an untraceable smartphone application. Her father said someone made a fake Facebook page of her, creating another cyberbullying medium.

"I heard someone crying," Brandy's 22-year-old sister, Jacqueline Vela, told KPRC-TV of Houston, "so I ran upstairs and I looked in her room, and she's against the wall and she has a gun pointed at her chest and she's just crying and crying and I'm like, 'Brandy, please don't. Brandy, no."

Jacqueline Vela said she went to her parents' room, "and I just heard the shot and my dad just yelled, 'Help me. Help me. Help me.'"

"I was almost certain that I could persuade her to put that gun down. It didn't work. She pulled the trigger," Raul Vela said.

Her final cellphone text to her family was, "I love you so much just remember that please and I'm so sorry for everything."

Her family said the harassment focused mainly on Brandy's weight.

"They would make dating websites of her, and they would put her number and they would put her picture (on the sites), and lie about her age and say she is giving herself up for sex for free, to call her," said Jacqueline Vela.

The family said they reported the bullying to the Texas City school district and several law enforcement agencies.

"School was a safe environment for Brandy," said school district spokeswoman Melissa Tortorici. "She had a lot of friends and was thought of warmly by her peers and teachers. She did bring it to the school's attention before Thanksgiving break that she was getting harassing messages to her cellphone outside of school. Our deputy investigated it, and the app that was being used to send the messages was untraceable. We encouraged her to change her phone number."

Brandy Vela changed her number, but bullies always found her, her family said.

"We have lots of incident reports, and they always say the same thing: They can't do anything about it," Jacqueline Vela said.

A Texas City Police Department statement says it continues to investigate the Velas' complaints. Jacqueline Vela told KPRC that she and her siblings have a good idea who may have been behind some of these attacks and have been assisting in the investigation.

The father said that he hopes for stricter laws against cyberbullying and greater awareness of the problem to give some meaning to his daughter's death.

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Agencies
July 8,2020

Kanpur, Jul 8: The Special Task Force (STF) shot dead Amar Dubey in an encounter in Maudaha on Wednesday morning. Amar, a right hand man of gangster Vikas Dubey, who shot dead eight police personnel on Friday last, figured prominently in the list of wanted persons released by the Kanpur police on Tuesday.

He was a named accused in the massacre.

According to STF sources, the police team had received a tip off about Amar's presence in the district and when they tried to close in on him, the criminal opened fire on them, He was killed in retaliatory firing around 6.30.a.m,

Amar was reportedly heading towards the house of one of his relatives in Maudaha area.

"We asked him to surrender but he opened fire at us and was killed when we returned the fire," said an STF official.

Earlier, he had been hiding in Faridabad but moved out after police pressure increased there.

Amar Dubey was a trusted accomplice of Vikas Dubey and the police had announced a reward of Rs 25,000 on him after the Kanpur massacre.

Incidentally, reports claim that Vikas Dubey was also seen at a hotel in Faridabad on Tuesday night but fled before the police could close in on him.

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News Network
February 20,2020

Nagpur, Feb 19: The Central Bureau of Investigation said that it has arrested a former employee of Union Carbide Bhopal, who was absconding since 2016.

A senior CBI official said on Wednesday that the agency sleuths arrested S I Qureshi from Maharashtra’s Nagpur on Tuesday, who was convicted by a local court here in connection with the Bhopal gas tragedy case.

The official further said that he had been absconding since 2016.

He added that the convict would be produced in a district court.

On December 3, 1984, forty tonnes of methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory and settled over slums in Bhopal

A Bhopal court convicted eight people in 2010 to two years each in jail over the gas plant leak that killed thousands of people.

The eight convicted included the Chairman of the Indian arm of the Union Carbide (UCIL) Keshub Mahindra, Managing Director V P Gokhale, Vice-president Kishore Kamdar, Works Manager J Mukund, Production manager S P Chowdhury, Plant superintendent K V Shetty and Production Assistant Qureshi.

The CBI had taken over the Bhopal gas tragedy case on December 12, 1984.

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Agencies
June 7,2020

Lucknow, Jun 7: From Anamika Shukla to Anamika Singh and finally Priya. The primary school teacher who was found to be teaching simultaneously in 25 schools, not only has multiple jobs but also multiple identities.

Anamika was arrested on Saturday from Kasganj district when she went to submit her resignation after she was served a show cause notice by the Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA), Anjali Agarwal.

Agarwal informed the police and Anamika was arrested.

According to the Kasganj BSA, Anamika Shukla, originally a resident of Kaimganj in Farukhabad is currently doing her B.Ed from the Raghukul Degree College in Gonda. Her other documents are also from the same college.

During interrogation, Anamika Shukla said that she was actually Anamika Singh but as questioning proceeded, it turned out that she was Priya from Farrukhabad.

She has been booked for cheating and forgery under IPC sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will etc.) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating).

According to the police, the woman claimed that she had paid Rs five lakh to a Mainpuri-based man to get this job.

She used Anamika Shukla's credentials to get the job while her real name is Priya, daughter of Mahipal, a resident of the Lakhanpur village of the Kayamganj police circle in Farrukhabad district.

Soron station house officer (SHO) Ripudaman Singh said, "During interrogation, the accused initially claimed to be Anamika Singh, daughter of Subhas Singh. However, her documents are in the name of Anamika Shukla, daughter of Subhas Chandra Shukla."

The accused claimed that she paid the hefty amount to Raj, a Mainpuri-based man for the job and was posted in Faridpur Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) since August 2018.

The police are now trying to zero in on the man who got her the job.

The police also believe that it could be possible that multiple candidates used credentials and 'eligibility' of Anamika Shukla - the real one still remains elusive.

According to the Uttar Pradesh government, five more Anamika Shuklas have been found working in KGBVs in Ambedkar Nagar, Baghpat, Aligarh, Saharanpur and Prayagraj districts. She has reportedly drawn a combined salary of Rs one crore in the past one year.

Teachers in KGBV, a residential setup for girls from weaker sections of the society, are appointed on contract and are paid approximately Rs 30,000 per month. Each block in a district has one Kasturba Gandhi school.

Basic Education Minister Satish Dwivedi said that the incident was 'shocking' and the police would unravel the entire racket in the case. "No officer, employee who connived with this teacher in providing her job at KGBV and subsequently hiding it, will be spared," he said.

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