College girl kills self during video chat with boyfriend

New Delhi, Jan 18: Two men accused of kidnapping and brutally raping a five-year-old girl in Delhi in 2013 have been held guilty by a court in the national capital today. The POCSO court, which will announce the quantum of punishment on January 30, said, "In our society the minor girls are worshipped as goddess on certain occasions but in the present case the victim child had experienced exceptional depravity and extreme brutality."

"The crime against the victim was committed in a most grotesque and revolting manner and the collective conscience of the community was shaken," the court added while holding the accused - Manoj Shah and Pradeep Kumar - guilty.

The assault which took place just four months after Nirbhaya's brutal rape had grabbed headlines with its shocking details. The girl, who was named Gudiya by sections of the media, went missing and the police told her parents to look for her themselves. She was found two days later, tied in the basement of the east Delhi house she lived in with traces of candles and bottles inside her private parts.

The convicts had fled after raping Gudiya and shoving a candle and bottle inside her private parts, leaving her at Manoj Shah's room, after believing the five-year-old to be dead. The child was rescued 40 hours later on April 17, 2013.

Manoj Shah and Pradeep Kumar were arrested by Delhi police separately from Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga in Bihar respectively in 2013. The charge sheet was filed on May 24 that year and charges were framed by the court on July 11. But, it took more than five years to complete the recording of the statement of 57 prosecution witnesses in the POCSO court.

"Though the trial should have been completed in two years, we are happy we got justice," said the father of the girl.

One of the convicts, Manoj Shah, allegedly assaulted some reporters while being taken out of the courtroom.

Visakhapatnam, Jul 12: A man of Kotturu village in Anakapalle mandal in Visakhapatnam has allegedly died by suicide after losing money in online gambling.

According to his friends, 24-years-old Doddi Venkata Aravind died after losing money in online gambling. However, Police is yet to ascertain the cause of death.

"This noon at around 1 pm (July 11), one Bhavani reported to us that her son Doddi Venkata Aravind (24), has committed suicide by hanging himself at their house," said Sub-inspector Chakradhar Rao.

"We think he might have committed suicide due to financial or any other problems. Full details will be known in the investigation. Whether he had lost in online gambling, we don't know the details," he added.

The police have filed a case and an investigation is underway.

DV Aravind worked as a junior engineer in a private mining company at Rayagada, Odisha. He came to his mother's place three days ago. 

Yavatmal, May 19: Four migrant workers were killed and 15 others were injured after a bus they were travelling in crashed into a truck in Yavatmal on Tuesday morning.

The bus was travelling from Solapur to Jharkhand. More details are currently awaited.

This comes amid nationwide COVID-19 lockdown has been extended to May 31, albeit with some relaxations.