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Mystery Sikh on royal barge a sex offender

naeem@coastaldigest.com (TNN)
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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Agencies
July 31,2020

Amaravati, Jul 31: Nine people have died after allegedly consuming sanitiser in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh today, the police said.

Prakasam district Superintendent of Police Siddharth Kaushal said the people had been consuming sanitiser for the past few days, mixing it with water and soft drinks.

"We are also investigating whether they laced the sanitiser with any other toxic substances," the official said.

"Their family members say these people have been consuming sanitiser for the past ten days. We are sending the sanitiser stocks, being sold in the area, for examination," he added.

Kurichedu in Prakasam district has been under lockdown due to rise in coronavirus cases and hence, liquor shops have also been shut since the past few days.

Habitual drinkers were said to be consuming sanitisers that have alcohol content, apart from illicitly distilled arrack.

The police said two beggars near a temple were the first to fall victim on Thursday night. While one of them was found dead at the spot, another died in the government hospital in Darsi town, they said.

A third person was also taken to the Darsi hospital late on Thursday night after he fell unconscious but he was declared brought dead. Six others who fell ill after allegedly consuming sanitiser, died this morning.

Others who fell ill after consuming sanitiser are undergoing treatment at their residences in the village, the police added.

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Agencies
June 7,2020

Behrampur, Jun 7: A migrant labourer spent two days in jungle after allegedly being denied entry to a quarantine centre and his village in Behrampur.

According to a local from the village, no one helped the labourer. "He came from Chennai. He went to the police and block office but no one helped. Then, he went to the jungle."

Later, the police took him to the quarantine centre.

As per the Union Health Ministry, there are 2,608 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Odisha, including 996 active cases, 1,604 recovered/discharged/migrated and 8 deaths.

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News Network
May 28,2020

Hyderabad, MAY 28: A three-year-old boy who accidentally fell into a newly drilled open borewell in Telangana's Medak district was found dead in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

The kid's body was retrieved at around 4 am after a nearly 10 hours' long rescue operation involving different agencies, they said.

"He died a while before we evacuated him, most likely due to the mud that covered him from the top sealing off necessary oxygen supply, " Medak District Superintendent of Police Chandana Deepti told PTI.

The boy had accidentally slipped into the 120- feet borewell at around 5 pm on Wednesday in an agricultural field located in Papannapet mandal of the district when he was walking with his grandfather and father, police earlier said.

As part of rescue efforts, a parallel trench was dug along the borewell hole with the help of earth excavating machines and oxygen was supplied into it, but the efforts went in vain as the boy's body was found stuck at a depth of around 25 feet, the police said.

Apart from the police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were also involved in the rescue operation.

The borewell into which the child fell was one among the three dug by the family since Tuesday night to try and find water for their fields. But none of them yielded any water, police had said.

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