Former tabloid editor hacked to death

Kochi, Mar 24: A 54-year-old domestic passenger was arrested at the airport here for allegedly refusing to follow instructions given by doctorsfor prevention of the spread of novel coronavirus, police said here on Tuesday.

Lami Arackal from Ernakulam, who landed from Chennai at the Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery on Monday night, was arrested based on a complaint from health officials, they said.

He was, however, later released on bail.

Arackal allegedly refused to wear mask and follow other instructions to be observed by the passengers coming from other states as part of the measures to check COVID-19 spread.

He also allegedly misbehaved with the medical officers, police said.

A man posed as Superintendent of Police (SP), called up a subordinate police official and asked him to get his mobile phone repaired or face the consequences. But, his bluff was later called and the man landed in lockup.

Azamgarh SP Triveni Singh said the 23-year-old youth, Shubham Upadhyay, is the son of a farmer. He was preparing for competitive exams when his phone developed a snag on Saturday. He tried to reach out to local mechanics, but they were unavailable to fix it due to the lockdown.

Upadhyay used a free caller identification app to call up the in-charge of the Kotwali police station, K. K. Gupta, and threatened to shunt him out, if he failed to swiftly get the work done. Gupta grew suspicious and eventually caught the youth.

n his statement to the police, Shubham Upadhyay said, "On Sunday noon, I tried to breach the district borders to reach Lucknow to repair my phone, but since there was heavy police presence and barricading, I returned home. Later, I installed a free caller identification app in my handset and mentioned the name as SP Azamgarh and even uploaded a photo of the cop to appear genuine."

He first called SHO, Kotwali to get the phone repaired and was told the handset would be picked up from the SP office in an hour. Then, he called a businessman to bring his SUV and hand over his mobile to the SHO.

But when Upadhyay called the police again to suggest a separate meeting point, he raised suspicion. When the SHO tried to confirm the venue, Upadhyay got hesitant and said he would send a peon.

"I suddenly realised something was fishy and rang up the public relation officer of SP Azamgarh, who denied any such order from the SP. When the caller's number was scanned, it displayed the name of SP Azamgarh," said SHO Gupta.

A trap was laid and when the SHO reached the venue, he found one Praveen Shukla sitting in the vehicle. Police got the address of the accused from Shukla and reached Upadhyay's home in Bilariya locality and arrested him.

Upadhyay has been booked under IT Act and for threatening a public servant.

Warangal, May 22: In a shocking incident, bodies of nine migrant workers, including six of a family, were found in a well at Gorrekunta area in the outskirts of Warangal city. Of the nine bodies, four were found on May 21.

"Till now, nine bodies have been found in a well near a gunny bag godown at Gorrekunta area in the outskirts of Warangal city. Of the nine bodies, four were found on May 21 and the rest were found today. As six of the bodies belong to one family, it has led to suspicion," said Dr V Ravinder, Commissioner of Police, Warangal, while speaking to ANI over phone.

"The four bodies that were found yesterday have been identified as Md Maksood (50), his wife Nisha (45), daughter Busra (20) and grandson (3). The five bodies that have been found today have been identified as that of Shabad Alam, son of Maksood, Sohail Alam (Maksood's family member), Shakeel, a family friend of Maksood," he further said.

The bodies have been taken out from the well and sent to MGM Hospital for post mortem.
Minister Errabelli Dayakar, District Collector Harita, Mayor Prakash Rao have visited the spot along with the Warangal Commissioner.

Md Maksood had migrated from West Bengal to Warangal 20 years ago. Since last December, he and his family members have been working in a nearby gunny bag manufacturing unit godown at Gorrekunta. After the lockdown, the family shifted from Warangal and settled down in the factory godown.

According to police, on Thursday noon when the unit owner Santosh came to the godown as part of his daily routine he could not find any of the labourers. Later, he discovered four dead bodies floating in the well.

The Warangal police has registered a case under Section 174 CrPC. They said the exact reason for their deaths will be known only after the investigation.