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Kollam police bust human trafficking racket, nab 151 Sri Lankan Tamils bound for Australia

[email protected] (The Hindu)
June 5, 2012

human_traffing


Kollam, June 5: The Kollam police claimed to have busted a human trafficking racket on Sunday night with the arrest of two groups of Sri Lankan Tamils, one from a fishing boat off the coast and the other from Mukkad area of Kavanad in the city. Those taken into custody comprise 107 men, 19 women and 25 children.


They told the police that Australia was their destination and they had paid Rs. 50,000 each for being smuggled into that country. But the police were clueless on the identity of the people behind the racket.


“At the same time there are indications that Tamil Tigers with local contacts could be involved.”


Kollam Police Commissioner Debesh Kumar Behera told The Hindu that it would be verified whether they had sneaked out of refugee camps in Tamil Nadu or arrived here directly from Sri Lanka.


It was also being examined whether those taken into custody were in possession of travel documents.


Preliminary investigations revealed that some of those taken into custody had arrived directly from Sri Lanka but the majority had sneaked out of refugee camps in the hope of reaching Australia.


The police arrested boat owner Alex and middleman Dasan, both of Kollam.


The boat was a crude vessel marked to be condemned. It displayed two names, “Saint Antony” and “Kottarathil.” From the boat 136 were taken into custody and the rest from Kavanad.


The arrested alleged that they were victims of human rights violations both in Sri Lanka and even at the refugee camps in India and that the torture had compelled them to take the risk of embarking on a dangerous voyage in a crude boat in the hope of reaching Australia. They were told that it would take 18 days.


The women and children were found to have been accommodated inside the store of the boat.


But the police did not find sufficient food or water.


Convincing version

Mr. Behera said the version of the Tamils seemed convincing as many of their relatives had reached Australia through the same mode.


It was a group of youths relaxing on the banks of the Ashtamudi Lake at Mukkad which saw some Tamils desperately rushing to a boat jetty and alerted the police.


The police soon arrived and on interrogating the group, learnt that a boatload of Sri Lankan Tamils being trafficked to Australia was not far from the Kollam coast.


The boat was scheduled to arrive at Mukkad and pick up this group.


When the operators on the boat learnt that the police were on to them, they skipped the Mukkad schedule and began sailing away. However, a posse from the Neendakara Coastal Police station, gave chase in the interceptor boat Darshana, and stopped the vessel from escaping.


Crew escape

When the police entered the boat there was no crew. It was suspected that they could have jumped into the sea and escaped. The team from the Coastal Police Station steered the fishing boat to the Shakthikulangara Harbour.


Boat owner and middleman, both of Kollam, arrested


The boat was a crude vessel marked to be condemned



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News Network
June 2,2020

Pratapgarh, Jun 2: In a shocking incident, a young man was tied to a tree and set afire by the family of a woman with whom he was allegedly having an affair in Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh late on Monday night.

The man, 25, was a resident of Bhujauni village under Fatanpur police station, and he died on the spot.

Enraged over the incident, his family members and local people turned violent and set two police vehicles on fire.

Additional forces were rushed in to control the situation that remains tense.

The body has been sent for post-mortem.

According to Superintendent of Police (SP), Pratapgarh, Abhishek Singh, "Some people barged into the house of Ambika Patel and dragged him away. They then tied Patel to a tree some distance away and set him on fire after sprinkling petrol on him. They fled immediately after." Agitated family members and villagers assembled at the site and set a 112 police response vehicle (PRV) and another police jeep on fire. They were demanding immediate arrest and action against the accused.

The official said that Patel's relatives claimed that he was having an affair with a woman from his village and this had resulted in many face-offs between the families.

Patel had reportedly shared a video clip of the woman on social media a few months ago further increasing tension between the families.

The woman's family members had registered a police complaint against Patel in this connection at the Fatanpur police station that led to his arrest. He was released from jail recently, police added.

The woman had been recently selected as a police constable and was posted to Kanpur.

The SP said that an FIR had been registered on the complaint of the victim's family and efforts were on to arrest the accused.

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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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Agencies
July 28,2020

Noida, Jul 28: A doctor admitted at a private hospital in Noida has been accused of sexually harassing a patient in his isolation ward, where both were undergoing treatment for COVID-19, the police said.

The 20-year-old woman, in her complaint to the police, alleged that the incident took place on Monday and based on that a case was filed at the local expressway police station, they said.

A senior police official said an investigation is underway and there might be lapses on part of the hospital which allegedly admitted a man and a woman in the same isolation ward, in violation of the norms.

The woman and the doctor had tested positive for coronavirus last week, according to officials.

"The woman was in the isolation ward of the private hospital. There was a man, a medical practitioner, who too was infected with coronavirus and was sharing the ward with her," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Noida, Ranvijay Singh said.

He said the woman alleged molestation and upon being informed, the police immediately lodged a case and initiated a probe into the matter.

"There appears to be some irresponsibility on part of the hospital too. We are communication with the medical departments to check whether the patients were being kept in accordance with the guidelines," Mr Singh said.

He said the accused is still in isolation but the police will reach out for his statement following due protocols of COVID-19.

"All necessary action will be taken as per the truth that will emerge after a thorough investigation," Mr Singh said.

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