Out on bail, this rapist targeted single women in hostels

March 9, 2017

Bengaluru, Mar 9: A 31-year-old man arrested for rape in 2014 and given bail a year later, has been arrested again by the Bengaluru police, who suspect that he raped two women who live in hostels in the city last week.

rape copyA 23-year-old woman has told the police that she was raped at knife-point at her paying-guest accommodation by a man in HAL police station limits, close to the IT offices district. Three days later, another woman who lives in another hostel in the area said a man had robbed and sexually assaulted her.

When the women described their attacker, the police instantly suspected it could be Shivarama Reddy. "When we showed his photo, there was a positive identification," a senior police officer Hemant Nimbalkar said.

When a police team tried to arrest Reddy on Tuesday, he allegedly attacked them with a knife injuring three policemen. The police said they had to open fire at Reddy just off the city's Marathahalli Outer Ring Road, injuring him in the leg before he could be arrested.

Originally from Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district, Reddy has lived in and around Bengaluru for the last 15 years. He speaks four languages - Kannada, Telugu, Hindi and English.

Reddy, the police said, has targeted single women living in Bengaluru's paying guest accommodation or hostels. "His modus operandi was to rob women in PG accommodation and rape them if they were alone," Mr Nimbalkar said.

He was arrested in August 2014 and four police cases were filed against him for alleged rape, sexual harassment and outraging the modesty of a woman. But he stayed in jail for only a year before being given bail.

That a man accused of multiple rapes has been walking in and out of jail has shocked Bengaluru. "What is the chargesheet filed by police that he is being let off?" said Brinda Adige, a prominent activist, stressing there was a need to hold the judiciary accountable too.

The Bengaluru police, who have filed 16 cases against him, said this time they have evidence for a water-tight case.

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Agencies
May 27,2020

Mumbai, May 27: "Crime Patrol" actress Preksha Mehta has committed suicide. She was 25.

Preksha took her life by hanging from a ceiling fan on Monday night at her residence in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, reports timesofindia.com.

The actress reportedly left a suicide note but it does not mention why she decided to end her life. As per reports, Preksha went into depression due to lack of work amid the lockdown.

Her last few social media posts hint at mental agony she was going through. In her last Instagram story, Preksha wrote: "Sabse bura hota hai sapno ka mar jaana" (the worst thing is the death of your dreams)."

Apart from "Crime Patrol", Preksha has appeared in TV soaps like "Meri Durga" and "Laal Ishq".

This is the second suicide by a TV actor during the ongoing lockdown, when all shooting activity has come to a halt for two months now. A few days ago, actor Manmeet Grewal took his life by hanging from the ceiling fan at his Mumbai home. Reportedly, the actor was in a financial crisis and had run into huge debts.

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Agencies
March 24,2020

Kochi, Mar 24: A 54-year-old domestic passenger was arrested at the airport here for allegedly refusing to follow instructions given by doctorsfor prevention of the spread of novel coronavirus, police said here on Tuesday.

Lami Arackal from Ernakulam, who landed from Chennai at the Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery on Monday night, was arrested based on a complaint from health officials, they said.

He was, however, later released on bail.

Arackal allegedly refused to wear mask and follow other instructions to be observed by the passengers coming from other states as part of the measures to check COVID-19 spread.

He also allegedly misbehaved with the medical officers, police said.

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News Network
July 12,2020

Tamil Nadu, Jul 12: An alleged attempt by a 19-year-old man to "open a branch of the State Bank of India" at Panruti near Tamil Nadu was scuttled and he was arrested for forgery, police said on Saturday.

The man, son of retired SBI employees, had readied fake seals and challans of the public sector lender, and had other paraphernalia like a cash counting machine needed "to run a bank branch," on an upper floor of his residence at Panruti, about 25 km from Tamil Nadu.

He had not, however, put up any signboard. The SBI Panruti branch manager lodged a complaint with police seeking action following a tip-off by a customer that the man was "opening an SBI branch and has challans as well."

A printer who printed the challans and another who had made fake seals were held for similar offences and abetment.

They were produced before a magistrate court and enlarged on bail.

Asked if the man had cheated people by soliciting deposits or facilitating loans, Panruti police inspector K Ambethkar said, "no..we have not received any such complaint so far."

The man's late father had worked for SBI and his mother had retired from the same bank some time back, he said.

To a question, the police inspector said the man's mother, who has mobility issues, and another woman a relative living in the same house had no clue about his "idea."

Investigations revealed that he aspired to work for a bank and since he had closely watched banking operations for long he was "very knowledgeable" about it.

On the suspected motive, he said several of his replies were incomprehensible, childish, and strange notwithstanding his excellent understanding of the banking processes.

"He even calmly told us that he awaited approval from Mumbai to open the (SBI) branch and that he was about to put up a signboard," the inspector said, adding that the man had tried unsuccessfully to get employment on compassionate grounds in the SBI following the death of his father in harness.

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