Australian teen gets 13 years in jail for Nitin Garg murder

December 22, 2011

Melbourne, December 22: An Australian court on Thursday sentenced a Melbourne teenager to 13 years in jail for murdering Indian student Nitin Garg, a crime which outraged public opinion in India and put the bilateral relations under stress.

GARG

Nitin Garg

The teenager, whose identity has not been revealed as he is a minor, had pleaded guilty in April to one count of murder and one count of attempted armed robbery in the killing of 21-year-old Garg.

Garg, who migrated from Punjab, was fatally stabbed in the abdomen by assailants in Cruickshank Park in Melbourne’s Yarraville while on his way to work in January 2010.

Justice Paul Coghlan of the Victoria State Supreme Court sentenced the teenager to 13 years in jail, with a non-parole period of eight years, Australian news agency AAP reported.

Justice Coghlan said the killing was awful and tragic.

He, however, said it was a crime of opportunity rather than race.

He found the task of sentencing a very difficult one, the judge said. “In circumstances such as these there are just no winners.”

The judge said one able young man was dead, while the teenager’s life had changed forever.

“Although this was a very serious crime, it was committed spontaneously,” he said, adding, “It should be noted, however, that you chose to arm yourself and did a great deal to avoid apprehension for your crime.”

The accused was 15 and a half when he stabbed Garg, an accounts graduate.

The murder, which followed a series of attacks on Indians, made international headlines and provoked fear among Indian students in Australia.

Justice Coghlan said for “reasons never explained” the accused teenager left the house with a folding knife in his pocket.

The judge said that the boys were in the park when Garg walked past on his way to work at the Yarraville Hungry Jack’s restaurant on the corner of Geelong and Somerville roads and was talking on his phone.

The boy’s friend said “that bloke’s phone looks nice” so the boy took his long-sleeve jumper off and wrapped it over his face saying he was going to “roll” Garg.

He held the knife up to Garg and demanded his phone.

Justice Coghlan said Garg grabbed the boy but the boy stabbed him in the abdomen.

Garg ran to his workplace where he collapsed and he died in the Royal Melbourne Hospital in the early hours of the following morning.

Justice Coghlan said that after the attack the boy went home and watched a movie and found out the following day that Garg had died.

He said, however, that it had taken some time for the boy to speak to police.

He said the boy’s friend had made a statement to police last May implicating both of them in the crime and the boy was not charged until June. He has been in custody ever since.

Justice Coghlan said he accepted the boy was remorseful and had no intention to kill when he went to the park.

He said Garg was “an innocent and random victim” and it was his presence in the park, not his race, that led to him being attacked.

The Garg’s stabbing was widely condemned with the Indian government warning it could affect bilateral ties.

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Agencies
January 15,2020

Chandigarh, Jan 15: A man, who has killed two women over infidelity over the last 10 years was arrested from a news channel studio in Chandigarh when he confessed to these crimes during a live programme, police said.

In the television programme on News18, the 31-year-old accused, Maninder Singh, who is a cab driver, confessed killing his live-in partner, a 27-year-old nurse Sarabjit Kaur at a Chandigarh hotel on New Year's Eve.

Singh, a former murder convict and currently out on bail, also confessed about his crime committed in Karnal in 2010.

"I killed her (Sarabjit Kaur) because she was having an affair with her sister-in-law's brother," Maninder told the news channel.

Confessing his previous crime, Maninder said he had killed Renu in Karnal. "She was also having an affair with a man from Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Singh was arrested while the programme was still on air as police rushed into the studio.

Haryana Police had arrested him for killing the woman in 2010. He was convicted by a trial court, but he later got bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

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News Network
January 15,2020

New Delhi, Jan 15: The CBI has booked 17 individuals and companies, including three Mumbai-based senior Customs officials, for allegedly being part of a money laundering racket using over-invoiced import of diamonds worth more than Rs 156 crore, official said on Tuesday.

The case was referred to the CBI after a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence probe found alleged involvement of Customs officials in the conspiracy, they said.

The DRI probe had alleged that Hong Kong-based businessman Girish Kadel had imported rough diamonds from Switzerland to Hong Kong in the name of his four companies.

Kadel, who had business interests in India, had exported some of these diamonds to India through 14 consignments in the name of two companies Antique Exim Pvt Ltd and Tanman Jewels showing over-invoiced value of Rs 156.28 crore.

The DRI had found during revaluation that actual value of the consignment was Rs 1.03 crore instead of falsely declared value of Rs 156.28 crore, they said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged that Kadel used Import Export Codes (IECs) of Antique Exim Private Ltd and Tanman Jewels through his aide Atul Paldecha for siphoning off the money outside India through import of over-valued diamonds, the officials said.

Rough diamonds were imported at "highly exaggerated value" to siphon off excess foreign exchange overseas to cover the differential cost of other imports and park money abroad for unlawful activities.

It is alleged that the then Commissioner APSC Mumbai, Vinay Brij Singh, influenced subordinate officers to give favourable report, they said.

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News Network
July 17,2020

Ahmadabad, July 17: The Gujarat high court has ordered the Bharuch superintendent of police to investigate and produce a 14-year-old girl before the court, who has allegedly eloped with a man. Ironically, the man was convicted two years ago on Pocso charges for eloping with another minor girl in 2016.

The high court has asked the government to file an application for bail cancellation of the convict because he has indulged in a similar offence after having come out on bail.

The case involved one Dilip Padhiyar (24) from Uchchhad village in Jambusar taluka of Bharuch district.

He was punished with 10 years in jail in December 2018 by a special court for kidnapping a 16-year-old girl in 2016. He was prosecuted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and for rape and kidnapping charges. He got away with a 10-year-imprisonment because the girl was over 16 years and she had not alleged rape. However, Dilip Padhiyar was held guilty of statutory rape, abduction as well as under provisions of Pocso Act.

Dinesh Padhiyar got regular bail from the high court pending his appeal challenging his conviction in January 2019. In November 2019, he eloped with another minor girl.

Her father approached the high court complaining that though an FIR was registered with Vedach police station, the police have not made any effort to trace his minor girl. It was also contended in the habeas corpus petition that Padhiyar is a habitual offender.

Petitioner's advocate Imtiyaz Kureshi said that looking at the past of Dinesh Padhiyar, the high court asked the state government to initiate proceedings for cancellation of his bail.

The bench headed by Justice Sonia Gokani instructed HC's registry to treat the bail cancellation application as an urgent matter.

The high court has ordered Bharuch SP to produce the girl before the court by July 20, and in case she cannot be traced by then, he will have to submit an action taken report.

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