Bengaluru: 2 airport officers held for smuggling

March 13, 2017

Bengaluru, Mar 13: Two immigration officers of Kempegowda International Airport were arrested on Sunday for allegedly aiding smuggling of gold bars and ornaments. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence sleuths caught one of them receiving 3kg gold from a Malaysian passenger in an airport toilet.

smugglingPraveen Kumar and PD Katkar, sub-inspectors with the Bureau of Immigration, were to allegedly hand over the consignment to rackete ers outside the airport. "Acting on a tipoff that KIA insiders were part of a smuggling racket, we stationed our men at key points," a DRI investigating officer said about the operation.

Around 9.10 am on Sunday , a couple -Arjunanan Velu and Shanti Narayanan -ar rived at KIA by a Malaysian Airline flight (MH-104) with 3kg gold worth Rs 90 lakh. Velu, a Malaysian national, went to the toilet near the passenger immigration counter; his wife, an Indian passport holder, waited outside.

"Around 9.30am, a man met Velu in a toilet. Velu han ded him a pouch with 2kg gold bars and the rest in ornaments. Our sleuths nabbed the duo in the restroom," the officer added.

The man who accepted the smuggled goods was identified as immigration officer Katkar. During questioning, the officer allegedly said he was acting on colleague Praveen Kumar's instructions.The officers, who face no stringent frisking because they enjoy a degree of immunity, had planned to slip the goods out and hand them over to a smuggling gang outside the premises. Smugglers had allegedly promised the immigration officers huge sums of money for the job. The passengers were arrested and then remanded in judicial custody.

The couple claimed they were under pressure to act as conduits and said it was their first attempt.The role of immigration officers in the racket seems to be deeprooted. "We suspect a nexus between Indian smugglers and the apprehended immigration officials," a senior DRI officer said.

A probe is under way on the possible involvement of other Bengaluru airport officials in the racket.

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News Network
May 1,2020

Lucknow, May 1: Six members of a family were allegedly hacked to death by another family member over a property dispute in Gudauli village in the Banthra area on the outskirts of the city on Thursday, police said.

The accused, Ajay Singh (26), went to the local police station after committing the crime and surrendered, they added.

Singh allegedly had a heated argument with the family members over a property and attacked them with a sharp-edged weapon, the police said.

The accused allegedly killed his mother, father, elder brother, his wife and two children -- a son and a daughter -- they added.

The victims were identified as Amar (60), Ramsakhi (55), Arun (40), Ramdulari (35), Saurabh (7) and Sarika (2).

When asked, Commissioner of Police Sujeet Pandey said six members of a family were killed and the accused surrendered before the police.

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April 12,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 12: Two police officials have been booked for murder in connection with the alleged custodial death of a theft accused in Bengaluru rural district, police said on Saturday.

A case of murder has been registered against inspector Raghu and sub-inspector Rakesh C for the alleged custodial death of Munikulla on Friday afternoon, Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru rural district, Ravi D Channannavar told reporters.

"Yes. A case has been registered and transferred to CID," he said.

Munikulla, a resident of Nadavatti village, was picked up by the police on April 7, his wife Dhanalakshmi told the media on Saturday.

"Policemen took my husband with them. They beat him up and killed him," she said.

Alleging that Munikulla was a victim of police high- handedness, Hoskote MLA Sharath Bachegowda said he had lodged a complaint with the state DGP Praveen Sood demanding a CID inquiry into the case.

An FIR was registered against Munikulla on Friday evening based on a complaint by the cashier of the liquor store, who had claimed that the CCTV footage showed victim's involvement.

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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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