Mystery Sikh on royal barge a sex offender

June 8, 2012

shikh

London, June 8: The mystery of an unknown Sikh on Queen Elizabeth's Royal Barge that sailed down the Thames to mark the monarch's diamond jubilee has been solved. An investigation by a British tabloid has found that the man was a sex offender who spent four years in a British prison.

But the mystery about who invited Harbinder Singh Rana, 52, remains. Rana was jailed in the 1980s for posing as a doctor and groping and molesting several women on the pretext of performing internal examinations or administering injections.

Rana has since rejigged himself as a pillar of the community and wormed his way into the good books of Elizabeth's son Prince Charles.

Rana was found guilty on five counts of indecent assault, 11 counts of assault causing bodily harm and one count of attempted assault in August 1986.

"In an astonishing error of judgment , the Sikh charity director, who now lives in Walsall in the West Midlands, was allowed to mingle with VIPs on the Royal Barge during Sunday's river pageant," said the Daily Mirror article. "The convicted sex attacker was at times during the 1,000 boat extravaganza just feet from the Queen herself."

Sex offender was invited by Charles to queen's party

Rana, a former management consultant,is understood to have met the prince through his charity work for the Anglo-Sikh heritage trail, a group that promotes Sikh culture in Britain.

The prince's staff appeared to be unaware of Rana's shameful past. It is not known if security checks were done on Rana.

"I was given the invitation and I attended. The fact that the Prince of Wales invited me clearly shows what I have done for the community since then," Rana told the British daily. "I have made it clear I wasn't representing the Sikh community , I was there because I was very happy to be invited."

However, the incident has created outrage in Britain about vetting procedures in place to protect the British royal family. An investigation is likely.

A spokesman for Charles said, "Harbinder Singh was asked to take part as he is a leading member of the Sikh community and someone who has done a lot of charitable work."

Scotland Yard claimed that those travelling on the royal barge would have been vetted by security. But Rana was not deemed a threat.



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News Network
June 2,2020

Pratapgarh, Jun 2: In a shocking incident, a young man was tied to a tree and set afire by the family of a woman with whom he was allegedly having an affair in Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh late on Monday night.

The man, 25, was a resident of Bhujauni village under Fatanpur police station, and he died on the spot.

Enraged over the incident, his family members and local people turned violent and set two police vehicles on fire.

Additional forces were rushed in to control the situation that remains tense.

The body has been sent for post-mortem.

According to Superintendent of Police (SP), Pratapgarh, Abhishek Singh, "Some people barged into the house of Ambika Patel and dragged him away. They then tied Patel to a tree some distance away and set him on fire after sprinkling petrol on him. They fled immediately after." Agitated family members and villagers assembled at the site and set a 112 police response vehicle (PRV) and another police jeep on fire. They were demanding immediate arrest and action against the accused.

The official said that Patel's relatives claimed that he was having an affair with a woman from his village and this had resulted in many face-offs between the families.

Patel had reportedly shared a video clip of the woman on social media a few months ago further increasing tension between the families.

The woman's family members had registered a police complaint against Patel in this connection at the Fatanpur police station that led to his arrest. He was released from jail recently, police added.

The woman had been recently selected as a police constable and was posted to Kanpur.

The SP said that an FIR had been registered on the complaint of the victim's family and efforts were on to arrest the accused.

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News Network
June 14,2020

Mandya, Jun 14: In a tragic incident, a woman and her two children were drowned in a pond at Beeranahalli village in Nagamangala taluk of this district on Sunday.

Police said that the deceased have been identified as Geeta (40), and her two children Savita(19) and Soumya(14).

Savaitha is a degree student while Soumya was studying in 9th standard. The trio drowned in a pond where they had gone to wash their cows. The locals rushed to the spot and tried to rescue them but could not save.

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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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