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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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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January 14,2020

Farukkhabad, Jan 14: In a shocking incident, a new-born baby was mauled to death by a dog inside the operation theatre (OT) of a private hospital in Farukkhabad on Monday.

Family members of the baby boy said that they noticed the hospital staff shooing a dog away from inside the operation theatre and soon after, they were told the baby boy, born just two hours ago, was dead.

The family members said that they found the baby's body on the floor and it had deep gashes around the neck and other parts of the body.

District magistrate Manvendra Singh has ordered an FIR and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Chandra Shekhar said the hospital has been sealed and an inquiry ordered into the incident.

Sources said that the hospital where the incident took place was unregistered and was being run adjacent to a government hospital.

According to the FIR lodged with Sadar Kotwali police, the infant's father Ravi Kumar said he had admitted his wife Kanchan in the hospital on Monday and she was taken for a C-section to the operation theatre.

After the delivery, Kanchan was shifted to the ward but the family was told that the baby would be shifted later.

An hour later, the family was informed that the baby had died.

The family members then saw the hospital staff trying to chase a dog out of the operation theatre.

The family members forced their way into the operation theatre and found the infant lying on the floor with several injuries on the neck.

The police said that the baby's body has been preserved for examination and post mortem.

The FIR has been registered against Dr Mohit Gupta, and some of the staff members who were present during the delivery.

The hospital owner, Vijay Patel, however, feigned complete ignorance about the incident and said that he had been told that the baby was born dead.

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Agencies
May 28,2020

Mumbai, May 28: Twenty four doctors and three others staying in a south Mumbai hotel were rescued after a major fire broke out in the five-storey building, officials said on Thursday.

The BMC has arranged temporary accommodation for emergency and essential service staffers, including doctors and nurses, in various hotels and lodges in the city due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This hotel is one such facility.

The fire broke out at Hotel Fortune near Metro Cinema late Wednesday night and was brought under control after nearly three hours early Thursday, fire brigade officials said.

“The fire spread from the first to the third floor of the hotel, a fire brigade official told PTI. It was a level-2 fire and eight fire engines were rushed to the spot, he added.

The fire was confined to the electric wiring and cables in the electrical duct, false ceiling in the lobby and the common passages on the first, second and third floors of the hotel, he said.

The 24 rescued were resident doctors at a local hospital who were provided temporary accommodation in the hotel, while the three others were guests of the hotel, he said.

The fire broke out at 11 am and wasbrought under control at 1.40 am, the official said. Cooling operation is underway at the hotel, he added.

Five doctors were rescued using fire brigade ladders and breathing apparatus sets, the official said.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known, the fire brigade official said.

On April 21, a major fire broke out in a lodging room of Hotel Ripon near Mumbai Central, which was being used as a quarantine facility by the civic body.

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