Throat slit, student found dead

New Delhi, Jan 18: Two men accused of kidnapping and brutally raping a five-year-old girl in Delhi in 2013 have been held guilty by a court in the national capital today. The POCSO court, which will announce the quantum of punishment on January 30, said, "In our society the minor girls are worshipped as goddess on certain occasions but in the present case the victim child had experienced exceptional depravity and extreme brutality."

"The crime against the victim was committed in a most grotesque and revolting manner and the collective conscience of the community was shaken," the court added while holding the accused - Manoj Shah and Pradeep Kumar - guilty.

The assault which took place just four months after Nirbhaya's brutal rape had grabbed headlines with its shocking details. The girl, who was named Gudiya by sections of the media, went missing and the police told her parents to look for her themselves. She was found two days later, tied in the basement of the east Delhi house she lived in with traces of candles and bottles inside her private parts.

The convicts had fled after raping Gudiya and shoving a candle and bottle inside her private parts, leaving her at Manoj Shah's room, after believing the five-year-old to be dead. The child was rescued 40 hours later on April 17, 2013.

Manoj Shah and Pradeep Kumar were arrested by Delhi police separately from Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga in Bihar respectively in 2013. The charge sheet was filed on May 24 that year and charges were framed by the court on July 11. But, it took more than five years to complete the recording of the statement of 57 prosecution witnesses in the POCSO court.

"Though the trial should have been completed in two years, we are happy we got justice," said the father of the girl.

One of the convicts, Manoj Shah, allegedly assaulted some reporters while being taken out of the courtroom.

Mumbai, Jan 12: At least eight persons were killed and several others injured when a massive blast followed by a fire ripped a chemical factory at Boisar in Palghar district, nearly 100 km north of Mumbai, on Saturday, officials said.

Top Palghar district administration, police and fire brigade officials have rushed to the spot for the rescue operation, while Fire Brigade teams from Boisar MIDC industrial area and Tarapur Atomic Power Station are engaged in dousing the flames.

As per local witnesses, the intensity of the explosion was so severe that it was audible in a 35-km range and one building in the factory collapsed.

Besides, many homes in the immediate vicinity were shaken and people ran outside thinking it was an earthquake, as power lines also failed.

The exact cause of the explosion-cum-blaze which occurred around 7 p.m. is not immediately available.

Bengaluru, May 21:Tragedy struck an elderly migrant worker who was looking forward to joining his family as he died on reaching a nearby railway station to board a Shramik Special train to his home state Madhya Pradesh, police said on Thursday.

The 69-year old man, who worked in a coffee estate in Chikkamagaluru, collapsed and died soon after getting down from a state-run KSRTC bus that brought him and others to the Chikkabanavara Railway station on Wednesday.

According to police, fellow labourers said he had been ailing for quite some time.

The cause of his death would be known only after a post-mortem, police added.

Karnataka government has been sending back thousands of migrant workers stranded in the state due to the COVID-19 lockdown by arranging the special trains.