Sri Lanka: Body of British journalist dragged into lagoon by crocodile found

September 15, 2017

New Delhi, Sept 15: Sri Lankan police on Friday found the body of a British journalist, Paul McClean, who is suspected to have been killed by a crocodile.

McClean, who worked for the Financial Times, was presumed dead after reports said a crocodile pulled him into a lagoon in southeast Sri Lanka on Thursday.

Divers found McClean’s corpse in the mud of a lagoon in the coastal village of Panama, 360 kilometres east of the capital Colombo by road, a police spokesperson said.

“There were six or seven wounds on his right leg,” a police official told AFP by telephone. “The body was stuck in mud at about the same place where he was seen last by some others who were with him.”

A crocodile is believed to have dragged McClean away on Thursday afternoon, the officer said, but a post-mortem examination later Friday would formally establish the cause of death.

Witnesses said the 24-year-old was staying with his friends at the East Beach Surf Resort and was taking surfing lessons at a popular surf spot called the Elephant Rock.

“There’s a lagoon right next to the sea he went to the toilet next to the lagoon and was grabbed by a crocodile,” A Scottish tourist told The Guardian.

“There are lots in the lagoon. People last saw his arms in the air in the water and then was grabbed under. I was there but didn’t see it happen though. Horrible.”

The navy, army and the task force have been sent to search for McClean’s body but the river connected to Elephant Rock is deep and waters murky, said the owner of Safa Surf School Fawas Lafeer.

“He went in the jungle, about 800 metres. It was when he was washing his hands that the crocodile took him.”

Lafeer said he heard some witnesses talking: “This is the first time anything like this has happened, Elephant Rock is always safe to surf.”

McClean, who belonged to Surrey in the UK, was an Oxford graduate with a first class honours degree in French. He covered Brexit in the two years he worked for the Financial Times, his first job after college. He had recently returned to London after living in Brussels for a few months.

A friend from the university, who wished to remain anonymous, described McClean as an “incredibly lovely and considerate person” who was doing terrific work at FT.

McClean’s recent articles on the FT website include a report on how climate change is fuelling investment in the wine industry.

The lagoon is known to have crocodiles and is located yards away from Elephant Rock near Arugam Bay on the southeast coast of the country, The Sun said.

Although rare, there have been previous incidents of crocodile attacks in Sri Lanka. A teenage girl was reportedly dragged away by a crocodile while she was on a holiday with her family in Galnewa earlier this April.

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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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News Network
July 4,2020

Kolkata, Jul 4: Two people were killed and around four injured when the bombs they were allegedly manufacturing went off inside a house in Murshidabad district, a senior police officer said on Saturday.

Their identities were yet to be established as the condition of those injured and undergoing treatment at a hospital was still "critical", he said.

The thatched roof of the house, where they were allegedly making bombs, also blew off in the explosion, which occurred at Suti town in Jangipur subdivision of the district around 9:00 pm on Friday, the officer said.

The house has been damaged completely, and its owner is on the run, he said.

As of now, the wife of the house owner is being questioned in connection with the incident, the officer added.

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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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