‘He’s innocent’: Court acquits Odisha man after 21 years of imprisonment

Agencies
August 24, 2019

Cuttack:  The Orissa High Court has acquitted a man in a murder case after he spent 21 years and nine months behind the bars.

The high court has ordered immediate release of Sadhu Pradhan from jail.

Pradhan, a resident of Kantapada village in Ganjam district, was arrested in November 1997 in connection with the killing of a woman.

A district court sentenced him to life imprisonment in August 1999.

He was also booked for theft as some ornaments of the victim were not found when her body was fished out of a village canal. Pradhan was, however, absolved of the theft charge in the trial court.

His appeal against the trial court verdict was pending in the high court and a division bench of justices S K Mishra and A K Mishra concluded the hearing in July.

In its verdict delivered on Monday, the bench acquitted Pradhan, holding that the trial court had committed an error in not appreciating the evidence in the proper perspective.

The high court observed that the prosecution had failed in ascertaining the motive behind the killing.

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Agencies
May 19,2020

Yavatmal, May 19: Four migrant workers were killed and 15 others were injured after a bus they were travelling in crashed into a truck in Yavatmal on Tuesday morning.

The bus was travelling from Solapur to Jharkhand. More details are currently awaited.

This comes amid nationwide COVID-19 lockdown has been extended to May 31, albeit with some relaxations.

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Agencies
July 4,2020

The Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CBCID) of Tamil Nadu Police has arrested suspended constable Muthuraj.

Wanted in the Tuticorin custodial deaths of P Jeyaraj and his son J Bennicks, Muthuraj was arrested on late Friday.

Muthuraj was later remanded to the judicial custody till July 17.

Jeyaraj and Bennicks had been booked for not closing their mobile shop in time on June 19 by the Sathankulam police. They were sent to judicial custody and lodged in the Kovilpatti jail on June 21.

Jeyaraj died on June 22 night and Bennicks on June 23 morning in judicial custody, allegedly due to the police torture.

The Madras High Court while hearing the case had said there was prima facie evidence to register a murder case against the Sathankulam police officials.

The court also transferred the probe into the deaths of Jeyaraj and Bennicks to the CBCID to gather and protect the evidence till the case is handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

It has also initiated criminal contempt cases against three police officials -- Additional Superintendent of Police Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police Prathapan and constable Maharajan -- for their behaviour at the Sathankulam police station in front of Kovilpatti Judicial Magistrate MS Bharathidasan who had gone for an inquiry.

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Agencies
February 23,2020

Panaji, Feb 23: A MiG-29K aircraft crashed off Goa during a routine training sortie on Sunday morning, the Indian Navy said in a statement.

"The pilot ejected safely and has been recovered. An enquiry into the incident has been ordered," the statement said.

On November 16, a MiG-29K trainer flight had crashed after a bird hit, soon after it took off the Dabolim International airport, which functions out of the Indian Navy base INS Hansa.

Both pilots had managed to safely eject themselves to safety after both the engines of their jet failed.

According to data tabled in the recent budget session of the Goa Assembly, every ten days, at least one aircraft landing or taking off at Goa's Dabolim international airport faces dangers involving birds or stray dogs near the runway.

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