Drugs whiff as woman drowns in posh club

August 5, 2014

Drugs whiffHowrah, Aug 5: A 24-year-old woman died mysteriously during a poolside Friendship Day party at a posh club in Howrah on Sunday night, triggering suspicion of a drug overdose. Suvanjeeta Saren died in front of 500-odd guests and staff but no one could say for sure how it happened.

The party was on in full swing when Suvanjeeta was suddenly seen struggling in a shallow pool. A bouncer dived in to save her and a friend gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but she died on the way to hospital. Strips of prescription sedatives were found in her pocket, say police.

Suvanjeeta was married to Samrat Saren but was staying in a hostel. Her roommate Priyanka Bhattacharya had reportedly invited her to the party at Lakeland Country Club, Domjur, and they were accompanied by two youths named Abhishek Singh and Rohit Tripathi.

Police say Suvanjeeta was accustomed to the "fast life" and died because of an overdose of drug and alcohol but her family members don't agree. Her husband said he will seek a full investigation. "I got a call from Suvanjeeta's brother at 7.30pm that she had drowned and had been taken to SSKM Hospital. Since she stayed in a hostel to pursue her studies I had no idea about her activities. I don't know who she had gone with and what happened there, so I shall wait for the post-mortem report. Once it comes I shall decide my next course of action," Samrat said. When asked if he would file an FIR, Samrat said: "Definitely. I will go to any extent to find the truth". Police are investigating it as a case of unnatural death.

The 'Viva La Friendship' revelry was organized at Lakeland Country Club by event management group Mellifluous Entertainment. The party was buzzing at 7pm when one of the bouncers spotted Suvanjeeta struggling for life in the pool. He pulled her out. Priyanka, who says she was at the food counter then, rushed back and tried to blow air into Suvanjeeta's lungs. Suvanjeeta was taken to West Bank Hospital in Howrah and then to SSKM where she was declared dead on arrival.

Singh denied having any kind of association with Suvanjeeta. "I had seen her at two or three parties earlier but I hardly spoke to her. I knew Priyanka and the four of us went to Lakeland Country Club together. After that I went to the booking counter as the event was organized by my friends. I accompanied her in the ambulance to West Bank and then to SSKM," Singh said. Police questioned the trio and allowed them to go. "We are waiting for the autopsy report. Once it comes, we might call them again," said additional SP-rural Indra Chakraborty.

"We recovered a strip of Nitrazepam (commonly referred as N-10) and a strip of Diazepam from her. The autopsy will tell us if she had taken these drugs. Since it was a private party, there was no CCTV coverage and this is a problem," an investigating officer said. Priyanka, in her statement to police, has claimed that Suvanjeeta had a habit of taking drugs. "When I was going to the food counter at 7pm I found her loitering by the side of the pool in a drowsy condition. I told her not to go near the pool. Suddenly I heard people shouting and rushed to the poolside to find her lying unconscious. I took her to the changing room and tried to blow air in her lungs but nothing worked," said Priyanka. She works with a private company. Manager of the club Nur Alam said, "There was only four feet of water in the pool and it is surprising that a five-foot-tall woman drowned in such a shallow pool".

Suvanjeeta, who married in January 2011, shifted to a hostel in Sreerampore, Garia, six months ago. "She was studying BCA under Ignou and moved to a hostel as her classes were at St Andrew's College," said Samrat, an education extension officer of the government posted in Swarupnagar block of North 24-Parganas.

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Agencies
May 6,2020

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.

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Agencies
January 21,2020

Tengnoupal, Jan 21: A woman IPS officer has alleged that a rifleman of Assam Rifles physically assaulted and molested her at a check post near Moreh town in Manipur's Tengnoupal district, police said on Tuesday.

Based on a written complaint of the IPS officer, an FIR has been registered against rifleman P K Pandey and a summon has been issued to him to appear before the concerned police station, the police said.

Manipur DGP L M Khaute told reporters on Monday, "We have made contacts with the Assam Rifles authorities. A complaint has been lodged by the officer." In her complaint, the IPS officer said that on reaching Khudengtabi check post on Sunday afternoon one of her escorts, who was not in uniform, told the frisking party of Assam Rifles to register their entry.

Despite showing their identity cards, the rifleman allegedly detained them, she said.

"We offered to search ourselves and the vehicle, but he was not interested", she said.

The rifleman began hitting the official vehicle and "misbehaved, humiliated, harassed and assaulted me and my escort personnel," she alleged.

The IPS officer also alleged that the rifleman molested her and when her escorts tried to intervene, he thrashed them.

She further accused the rifleman of making "sexually coloured" remarks against her, using abusive language and even tried to snatch her phone when she tried to call her senior officers.

The issue was brought under control after the matter was reported to the Brigadier of 26th Assam Rifles and the Major of the D-company of 12th AR, police said.

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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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