Housemaid, who replaced stolen gold chains with fakes, arrested

Palghar, Mar 7: Police have arrested a man for allegedly cheating several shopkeepers in Maharashtra's Thane, Pune and Nashik by making phone calls in a woman's voice, police said on Friday.

The accused, Shashikant Ambekar (42), a resident of Palghar, was arrested in the last week of February, they said.

"He used to note down the phone numbers mentioned on different shops and call the owners in a woman's voice to order some things from them. He would tell them that he had a Rs 2000 currency note and needed change," an official said.

"He would ask the shopkeepers to send smaller denomination notes for exchange. He would wait at the entrance of buildings and when the delivery man arrived, he used to tell that he was there on behalf of the ''caller woman''.

"He would then take the currency notes from the delivery man saying he would get the Rs 2,000 note from the woman. However, he would disappear from the scene," the official said.

Police have seized Rs 1,85,000 from the accused and found that so far he has committed 22 similar crimes in different parts of the state.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 10: The man who fled from the Medical College Hospital where he was undergoing treatment for COVID-19 committed suicide on Wednesday morning after being brought back. He used his bed sheet to hang himself from the ceiling.

Hailing from Anad near Nedumangadu, the man, who was undergoing treatment in the isolation room set up at KHRWS pay ward, escaped from the hospital and boarded two KSRTC buses to reach his home.

The Health Department had said the latest tests had returned negative and he was to be discharged on Wednesday. However, City Police Commissioner Balram Kumar Upadhyay had claimed that one more test result of the person was awaited.

The man was blocked by locals upon his arrival at Anad. He was later taken back to the hospital and the police had registered a case against him under the Kerala Public Health Act and Epidemic Diseases Ordinance.

Kanpur, May 24: Three persons onboard separate Shramik Special trains lost their lives due to various ailment, officials said here on Saturday.

"Family members of the deceased said all were suffering from serious ailment. The travel history of all the three deceased passengers was taken, Kanpur District Magistrate Brahma Deo Ram Tiwari said.

Giving details about the deceased, he said Naichinalyu Disang (23), a resident of Nagaland, was going from Delhi to Dimapur.

"She was suffering from liver ailments," Tiwari said. As she coughed and vomited in the train, other passengers got terrified, he added.

The district magistrate said the body reached Kanpur Central Station at around 10.00 am.

Sample has been taken to check for the presence of novel coronavirus. She was working at a spa in Himachal Pradesh, he said.

Tiwari said Rajendra Prasad (50), a resident of Unnao, died on the Lucknow-bound special train from Andhra Pradesh.

Munni Devi (80), a resident of Siwan district in Bihar, died onboard the special train going from Surat to Siwan, the senior official informed.