'Parents of missing Indian toddler want other child back from authorities'

Agencies
October 22, 2017

Houston, Oct 22: The Indian-American parents of the missing 3-year-old adopted Indian girl are expected to appear in a court tomorrow to fight to try to get back their other child, US media reported. 

The mysterious disappearance of the Sherin Mathews from her home over two weeks ago led to the Child Protective Services (CPS) removing the 4-year-old biological girl from the home of Wesley Mathews and Sini Mathews, CBS News reported. 

The CPS says it's a standard custodial hearing, as the parents ask a judge to let them bring their biological daughter home in Richardson city in the US state of Texas. The CPS has previously said it had been involved with the Mathews prior to Sherin's disappearance, but refused to say for which child and why they were called in.

The father, Wesley Mathews, was arrested and charged with child endangerment after he told police he left his adopted daughter, Sherin, alone outside their home at 3:00 a.m. October 7.

Wesley, 37, told Richardson Police he made Sherin stand by a tree about 100 feet from their home as punishment for not drinking her milk. After 15 minutes when he went out to see her, Sherin was missing, Wesley told police. He waited until 8:00 am to report her missing.

Wesley is on bond, being tracked with a GPS monitor. As part of his release, the court says he cannot have contact with any minor child.

The girl's mother does not face any charges. She was in the house at the time, but was reportedly asleep and unaware of what her husband was doing, according to police.

Meanwhile, Richardson Police Department in its latest statement on the Sherin's missing case said that detectives have been going door-to-door at businesses and locations that may have additional information and evidence important to this case.

"Searches being conducted are very specific as we learn more through evidence being collected. Much of the evidence we have obtained requires analysis which takes time to process at a forensic level.

"As you may have learned from news media, many items collected through search warrants are also being analysed. As we continue, findings will be available less often due to the sensitive nature of what is discovered," the police said in a statement on Facebook.

An earlier statement said that during the course of this investigation, police have developed information that has lead them to more specific areas. Multiple searches were conducted in fields, creeks and wooded areas. Drones were also deployed for the searches.

Detectives are also working through the video surveillance collected.
"The process of reviewing evidence both digital and physical, as well as witness statements is a time consuming process and we ask for patience as we make progress," the earlier police statement said.

Sherin's case has caught the attention of India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

"We are deeply concerned about the missing child. Indian Embassy in US is actively involved and they keep me informed," Swaraj tweeted on October 19.

"We are closely monitoring Sherin Mathews case. We have established the contact with the community and authorities," the Consul General of India in Houston, Anupam Ray had tweeted.

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News Network
January 30,2020

New York, Jan 30: Three Indian citizens were arrested by border patrol agents here for entering the US illegally.

US Border Patrol agents stopped a vehicle near Massena in New York state along the county's northern border on January 24. During the vehicle checking, the agents found that two of the passengers were Indian citizens who entered the US illegally and not at a designated port of entry.

Both the passengers were transported to the Border Patrol Station for processing and charged.

The vehicle driver, also an Indian citizen who originally entered illegally into the US in 2012 and was ordered removed from the country in absentia last December, was charged with alien smuggling, a felony, which carries a penalty of a fine and up to five years of imprisonment for each violation.

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News Network
June 9,2020

Washington, Jun 9: The defacement of Mahatma Gandhi's statue by unknown miscreants was a "disgrace", US President Donald Trump has said, days after it was vandalised with graffiti and spray painting during the nationwide protests against the custodial killing of African-American George Floyd.

The statue, which is across the road from the Indian Embassy, was vandalised on the intervening night of June 2 and 3, prompting the Indian embassy to register a complaint with the local law enforcement agencies.

The incident happened during the week of nationwide protests against the custodial killing of Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

"It was a disgrace," Trump made the brief comment at the White House on Monday when asked about the incident.

The Indian Embassy here has taken up the matter with the US Department of State for early investigation into the matter, as also with the Metropolitan Police and National Park Service.

It is working with the US Department of State, Metropolitan Police and National Park Service for expeditious restoration of the statue at the park.

The US president and First Lady Melania Trump, during their visit to India in February, had spent considerable time at the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personally given them a tour of the historic place.

"The First Lady and I have just had a pleasure of visiting Mahatma Gandhi's Ashram, a few miles from here, where he launched the famous Salt March," Trump had said during his address at the Namaste Trump rally at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad on February 24. A day later, Trump and the first lady also laid a wreath at Raj Ghat in New Delhi.

Pictures of Trump and the first lady with Gandhi's spinning wheel during their visit to the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad are seen hanging on the walls of the White House.

Last week, top US lawmakers and the Trump Campaign condemned the vandalisation of the statue.

"Very disappointing," tweeted Kimberly Guilfoyle, advisor to Donald J Trump for President Inc. and National Chair of the Trump Victory Finance Committees.

North Carolina Senator Tom Tillis said, "It's disgraceful to see the defacing of the Gandhi statue" in Washington DC.

"Gandhi was a pioneer of peaceful protesting, demonstrating the great change it can bring. Rioting, looting and vandalising do not bring us together, he said.

Senator Marco Rubio said, "more evidence that violent radicals and run of the mill crazies have hijacked legitimate protests to create anarchy or for their own purposes."

Protests against the custodial killing of Floyd turned violent in the US and prestigious monuments were damaged. In Washington DC, protestors burnt a historic church and damaged monuments like the Lincoln Memorial.

US Ambassador to India Ken Juster apologised for the incident.

"So sorry to see the desecration of the Gandhi statue in Wash, DC. Please accept our sincere apologies," he said.

"Appalled as well by the horrific death of George Floyd and the awful violence and vandalism. We stand against prejudice & discrimination of any type. We will recover and be better," he said in a tweet last week.

One of the few statues of a foreign leader on a federal land in Washington DC, the statue of Gandhi was dedicated by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the presence of the then US president Bill Clinton on September 16, 2000, during his state visit to the US.

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News Network
March 6,2020

New York, Mar 6: A 23-year-old Indian with a student visa in the US has pleaded guilty to sexual enticement of a minor girl, prosecutors have said.

Sachin Aji Bhaskar faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

He pleaded guilty before Senior US District Judge William M Skretny to sexual enticement of a minor.

The charge carries a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum penalty of life in prison, a fine of USD 250,000 or both, US Attorney James P Kennedy said.

Prosecutors alleged that Bhaskar communicated by text and email with an 11-year-old girl for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity.

Through those communications, Bhaskar enticed the victim to engage in a sexual activity with him in August, 2018, they said.

The sentencing in the case is scheduled for June 17.

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