At least 2 Indians found dead in Australia house fire

June 1, 2012

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Melbourne, Jun 1: At least two members of an Indian family were found dead today after a fire tore through their Melbourne house, an incident suspected by police as a case of murder-suicide.

The bodies of the victims were found together in a back room of the home. Police are not yet able to give exact number of the deceased but said the house was home to four people.

Detectives said three people of Indian descent were known to be living in the house located in the suburb of Clayton South. At the time of fire it is believed that two boys aged five and 10 and their 37-year-old mother were there.

But police were yet to identify the bodies or determine exactly how many were dead, detective Geoff Maher said.

Police are also investigating whether the house fire was deliberately lit. Arson and explosives chemists and crime scene detectives were inspecting the scene.

Maher said police were considering the possibility of a murder-suicide.

"I'm not going to confirm that at this point in time," he said, adding "I'm keeping an open mind and so will the investigators."

He said police were trying to contact the woman's husband, who is believed to in India.

Police spokesman Adam West said emergency service officers found human remains after the fire was extinguished at 1.30am.

"Detectives believe that four people usually reside in the home and they are yet to be accounted for," he said.

Firefighters were called to the house just before 1am (local time) yesterday and found it well alight, the MFB said in a statement. The fire was brought under control within 40 minutes and firefighters then were able to gain entry to the house where they found two bodies.

"We have a number of deceased in the house but we're trying to piece the jigsaw together," Maher said, adding "We're unsure of what exactly we've got at this point in time and the DVI (disaster victim identification) process and the crime scene examination will take a while."

Neighbours made a desperate bid to get to the home's occupants, using an axe to try to break through the roller shutters and reach those inside, however they were unsuccessful.

Media reports quoted a close friend Jeanette Pereira as saying that the community was shocked at the incident.

"She was a very good lady, a very good mother. The children were very quiet. She looked after them well," she said.

She said the family had migrated to Australia from Canada.



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News Network
January 3,2020

Unnao, Jan 3: The Uttar Pradesh Police has submitted a charge sheet in a court here in connection with the death of a 23-year-old Unnao rape victim, who was allegedly set ablaze by five men.

Additional Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar Pandey, who is heading a Special Investigation Team in the case, said the charge sheet was submitted on Wednesday.

"There is ample proof against the five accused persons, and the charge sheet was prepared based on those evidences," he said on Thursday.

The 23-year-old Unnao rape victim, who was airlifted to Delhi and admitted to Safdarjung Hospital with 90 per cent burns after being set on fire, died following a cardiac arrest on December 6, 2019.

The woman was set afire by five men, including two of her alleged rapists, on December 5 morning when she was going to Rae Bareli to attend a court hearing in the rape case filed by her.

In her statement to Sub Divisional Magistrate Dayashankar Pathak, the woman had said she was attacked when she reached Gaura turn near her home on her way to the court.

She had specifically named Harishankar Trivedi, Ram Kishore Trivedi, Umesh Bajpai, Shivam Trivedi and Shubham Trivedi as the persons who set her on fire.

The woman had also alleged that Shivam and Shubham Trivedi had abducted and raped her in December 2018.

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News Network
April 24,2020

Thane, Apr 24: A 34-year-old man was allegedly attacked on suspicion of being a COVID-19 patient and died after falling into a gutter during the assault in Kalyan town of Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Friday.

The incident took place on Wednesday morning, when Ganesh Gupta had stepped out of his home to purchase some essentials amid the COVID-19 lockdown, an official said.

On noticing some policemen manning the street, the victim took an alternate route, where a few passersby assaulted him after he coughed while walking, he said.

The men suspected him of being a COVID-19 patient and attacked him, causing him to fall into a gutter and die, the official said.

The deceased's body was sent for post-mortem and a case of accidental death has been registered as of now, the station house officer of the Khadakpada police station said.

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Agencies
January 6,2020

New Delhi, Jan 6: A blind student who is pursuing research in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was also attacked by the mob that perpetrated violence in the University yesterday.

"I thought that the mob which came yesterday would disperse after raising a few slogans but they indulged in violence. They were targeting ABVP students. They beat me with sticks and rods. When I went to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, I came to know that there are many other injured students there," Surya Prakash, the blind student pursuing research in the University told ANI.

"I talked to my family members. They are really worried about the situation here. I qualified in the National Eligibility Test (NET) last year but I want to study and hence I am continuing research in JNU. How can we do anything in this atmosphere of fear? I am receiving calls from anonymous numbers threatening me not to come in front of the media. They are saying that as I am blind, I would become the face of this case," he added.

Another PhD student, Santosh Bhagat recounted his experience.

"In the evening at around 7 pm, many masked men entered the hostel. They had rods and sticks in their hands. We tried to go out but the attackers had entered the premises by then. I locked my room from inside but the attackers broke the door and entered my room and attacked me. They pushed me from the first floor and I fell down and sustained an injury. Later, I took shelter at one of the Professor's flat. Later, I was taken to the AIIMS Trauma Cantre," Bhagat said.

On Sunday evening, more than 30 students of the university, including JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh, were injured and were taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered the JNU and attacked them and professors with sticks and rods.

The JNU administration and political leaders, cutting across political lines, condemned the attack on students and urged the police to take action against the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, the situation remained tense but peaceful outside JNU on Monday morning as the university guards maintained a strict vigil at the gate, checking I-cards of all those entering the university.

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