Kopardi rape and murder case: Three men get death sentence

Agencies
November 29, 2017

Ahmednagar, Nov 29: A sessions court here today awarded the death sentence to three men for the brutal rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Maharashtras Kopardi village in 2016 that triggered protests across the state.

Hailing the verdict, the girls mother said her daughter "got justice in the true sense today".

Additional Special Judge Suvarna Kevale, presiding over the fast track court, awarded the death sentence to Jitendra Babulal Shinde (25), Santosh Gorakh Bhawal (30) and Nitin Gopinath Bhailume (23).

The judge had on November 18 convicted the three men on charges of rape, murder and criminal conspiracy.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the verdict would act as a "deterrent" to criminals.

The victim, a Class IX student, was found murdered after being raped on July 13, 2016 at Kopardi village in Ahmednagar district.

The accused also inflicted injuries all over her body and broke her limbs before throttling her, police said.

The incident turned out to be the trigger for silent marches (mook morcha) by Marathas across the state as the victim belonged to the community, while the culprits are Dalits.

Marches, joined by a large number of women, were taken out throughout the length and breadth of the state by the Maratha community demanding quick investigation and speedy trial in the case.

It also sent strong political ripples with the opposition Congress and the NCP demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on moral grounds.

Following the protests, the state government appointed noted criminal lawyer Nikam, who has appeared in several high-profile cases including the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, as the special public prosecutor in the case.

On October 7 last year, the Ahmednagar Police filed the charge sheet running into over 350 pages before the court in which the trio was charged under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The victims mother, who was present in the court, thanked the government, police, judiciary and the Maratha community for bringing justice to her daughter.

"I am thankful to the government, police, judiciary and the entire Maratha community for coming together and fighting for my daughter," the girls mother said.

Nikam said he was satisfied with the courts verdict.

"This judgement will be a great deterrent to criminals," he told PTI.

Nikam had earlier told the court that four to five days before the incident, the accused had stopped the girl and tried to molest her. However, when she resisted, two of the accused said that they would see her later.

On the day of the incident, all the accused were moving on their motorcycles and keeping a watch on the girls movements, Nikam had said.

The prosecutor today said he raised 24 points while pleading the case in the court.

The prosecution closed the case from its side by presenting 31 witnesses before the court, he said.

The prosecutor said that the three convicts were also given life imprisonment for charges pertaining to rape and criminal conspiracy and they were also fined Rs 20,000 each.

The convicts were also awarded three years rigorous imprisonment under the charges of molestation.

All these sentences will run concurrently, said Nikam.

He said Bhawal was earlier fined Rs 18,000 for stalling the trial in the court. Since he failed to pay the fine, the court today ordered the district administration to recover it from him

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Agencies
May 26,2020

New Delhi, May 26: A massive fire broke out on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday in the slums of the Tughlaqabad area in south east Delhi in which over 250 shanties were gutted, however, no one was injured, fire officials said.

Atul Garg, Chief Fire Officer, told IANS, "We came to know about the fire in the slums around 12.15 a.m. following which 28 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. And the fire was brought under control by 4 a.m."

He said, the Tughalaqbad slums have over 500 shanties, out of which over 250 have been destroyed in the fire.

He said, it took time for the fire tenders to reach the spot as it was on the hills, but the fire was doused within four hours and by 8 a.m. cooling off procedure has also been completed.

When asked if there is any casualty in the incident, he said, "No injury or casualty has been reported."

He also said that as of now the actual reason for the fire is not known. "But we are trying to find out the reason of the fire," Garg added.

South East Deputy Commissioner of Police R.P. Meena said, "In the night it seemed that almost 500 shanties were gutted. However, in the morning it became clear that only 250 shanties have been gutted in fire."

He said, the South East district police after receiving the call also rushed the ambulances and the local police team in the area for rescue operation. Meena further said that very few people were residing in the shanties, and the people came out of their shanties after the fire broke out in one of them.

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News Network
March 7,2020

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.

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News Network
February 10,2020

New Delhi, Feb 10: A 44-year-old man allegedly killed his daughter and son before ending his life by jumping in front of a Delhi metro train at Haiderpur Badli Mor station on Sunday, police said.

No suicide note has been recovered, but police claimed that the man, Madhur Malani, was depressed since his sandpaper-manufacturing factory was closed some six months ago due to financial crunch leaving him jobless. Madhur's parents had been supporting his family financially since then.

He used to stay with his wife Rupali, daughter Samiksha (14) and six-year-old son Shraiyans at a rented house in northwest Delhi's Shalimar Bagh area, they said.

Rupali was not at home when Madhur strangled their children. He might have also smothered their daughter but the exact cause of death would be ascertained only after the post-mortem reports arrive, a police official said.

After killing his two children, he jumped in front of an approaching train at Haiderpur Badli Mor Metro station following which he was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him 'brought dead', the official said.

Metro services on the Yellow Line were briefly delayed due to the incident.

"Delay in services from Samaypur Badli to GTB Nagar due to a passenger on track at Haiderpur Badli Mor," the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) tweeted.

After about 15 minutes, it again tweeted that normal services have been restored. The Delhi Metro's Yellow Line connects Samaypur Badli in Delhi to HUDA City Centre in Gurgaon.

The suicide was reported to the police around 5.40 pm while the Shalimar Bagh Police station received a call about the killings around 6.50 pm.

On reaching the house, police found bodies of the children lying in beds in two rooms. During enquiry, it was learnt that their father has left the house, a senior police officer said.

While police were trying to trace Madhur, they learnt about a suicide at the metro station. On verifying the details, it surfaced that Madhur committed suicide after killing his children, the officer said.

Rupali told police that she had gone to a nearby market around 3 pm and on returning home she found the bodies of her children while her husband was missing.

A case under relevant sections of the IPC has been registered and investigation was underway, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Vijayanta Arya said.

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