'Dewani Tours - treat your wife to a killer holiday' t-shirts spark outrage in South Africa

June 25, 2012
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Johannesburg, June 25: Selling of T-shirts carrying objectionable slogan referring to the gruesome murder of Indian-origin Anni Dewani have sparked a fresh controversy in Johannesburg, attracting criticism from different sections of the society, including that from the victim's family.

The apparel with the message "Dewani Tours - treat your wife to a killer holiday" apparently refers to the killing of Indian-origin honeymoon bride Anni Dewani in Gugulethu township of Cape Town in 2010, for which her British husband Shrien Dewani is facing extradition plans to stand trial after being implicated in the murder.

The message uses a popular English font type resembling Hindi script, reminding readers of Anni Dewani's Indian origins.

"This is a blatant disregard and disrespectful way of showing no remorse over a killing that shocked not just South Africa but the world," said Mr Gugulethu resident Vusi Ndoda, noting the incident has severely impacted on tourism in the area.

He said he will talk to the Indian-origin businessman Dinesh Dowlath, who is the man behind the idea, to withdraw the clothing, failing which he would campaign for boycotting his stores and organise protests at his businesses.

Mr Dowlath, on the other hand, has rejected suggestions that he was making light of the horrific murder, pointing out that T-shirts with often controversial and ambiguous statements had been the speciality of his stores.

Although agreeing to the sensitivity of the matter, Mr Dowlath told the weekly Sunday Times Extra that there was a market for such clothing as people see the humour in them.

"These T-shirts are for a discerning intelligent market," Mr Dowlath said, adding that although he created most of the slogans on his T-shirts, this one was suggested by a customer.

Meanwhile the victim's family has decried the situation, calling on Mr Dowlath to "let decency prevail."

"As a family, we haven't even started our grieving because the case is on hold and yet, there are those horrible people out there who see profit in this," Anni's uncle Ashok Dewani told the weekly from his Sweden home.



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News Network
July 21,2020

Nagpur, July 21: In a shocking incident, an 11-year-old boy allegedly killed self in Maharashtra's Nagpur city after being reprimanded by his mother for buying a samosa, police said on Tuesday.

Veeru Natthu Sahu was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his home in Ganga Nagar in Gittikhadan area on Sunday night, an official said.

The deceased boy's family was struggling to make ends meet after their small business was hit because of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, he said.

The Class 7 student had taken Rs 10 from home without asking his mother and bought a samosa, which was then eaten by his elder brother, the official said.

The boy's mother scolded him for taking money without her permission and asked him to get the snack for himself, following which the distraught minor allegedly went into the kitchen and hanged himself using a saree, he said.

The Gittikhadan police have registered a case of accidental death in this regard, the official added.

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Agencies
May 25,2020

Hyderabad, May 25: Indicating foul play in the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were fished out from a well near Warangal, a forensic expert on Sunday virtually ruled out suicide theory, saying it appeared seven of them had been dragged and thrown into the water body.

Mystery shrouded the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were found in a well, five of them on Friday and four on Thursday, on the outskirts of Warangal in Telangana.

Police stepped up the probe and forensic analysis was also underway in the case.

The forensic expert, who visited the crime scene as part of the investigation citing preliminary tests, said that the seven of nine people had scratch injuries and appeared to have been "dragged" and "thrown" into the well.

Forensic reports are expected in 10 days, the forensic expert told media on Sunday adding after examining the crime scene it appears that the deaths were not suicides.

"We have preserved all organs and the same were sent to forensic science laboratory (FSL) for examination... some two or three persons might have been involved in the crime. There are scratch injuries on the bodies," he said.

"It appears that they were thrown into the water... There were no injuries on the child's body. We are awaiting the forensic report (to ascertain) whether they were poisoned. It didn't appear as if they committed suicide," the expert, who performed the post-mortem said.

Police sources said at least two people were picked up for questioning.

Bodies of the head of the family, wife, daughter and three-year old grandson were found floating and fished out on Thursday.

On Friday morning, some bodies were seen floating following which police pumped out the water from the well and found others.

The 48-year old man had migrated from West Bengal over 20 years ago and had settled down here. His family had been staying in two rooms on the premises of the unit, police had earlier said.

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News Network
May 19,2020

Bareilly (UP), May 19: Samajwadi leader Chhotelal Diwakar and his son, Sunil Diwakar, were shot dead in broad daylight in Sambhal district of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. The entire incident was caught on camera.

The murder was apparently a fallout of a dispute over laying of a road under MGNREGA.

Chhotelal Diwakar had contested the 2017 assembly elections on a Samajwadi Party ticket.

Superintendent of Police, (SP), Sambhal, Yamuna Prasad, said, "Some work was being carried out under MGNREGA due to which some dispute happened. Two people have been shot dead. We will reach the spot of the incident to find more details."

According to his family members, Diwakar and his son had gone for a walk in the fields when the assailants came on a motorbike and after a brief altercation, shot them dead. They fled on foot, leaving their motorbike behind.

A large number of SP workers reached the village soon after the news of the double murder spread.

SP Yamuna Prasad who reached the spot that falls under Behjoi police station, soon after the murders, said that a manhunt has been launched for the assailants. He said that further investigations were underway and the bodies have been sent for post mortem.

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