Two held for theft; gold, silver items recovered

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 5: One man has been arrested in connection with the death of a pregnant elephant in Palakkad district here, Kerala Forest Minister K Raju said on Friday.

"One accused identified as Wilson has been arrested in connection with the case. More people are involved. The process to arrest all the accused is underway. Strict action will be taken in the matter to ensure such incidents are not repeated in the future," Raju told reporters here.

The elephant had died in Palakkad district on May 27 after it ate a pineapple stuffed with crackers and forest officials said that it died standing in river Velliyar after it suffered an injury in its lower jaw.

Raju said that the forest department has appointed three teams to probe the matter, and added that police are also investigating the incident as explosives were used.

"There may be some type of crackers inside the fruit. In such cases, blast occurs and the animal can not even drink water. The primary post mortem reports said that this case is like that. Let it be investigated," he said.

"Man and animal conflict is natural in our state as people residing close to the forests. The government gives compensation for farmers, Rs 10 lakhs compensation if a person dies in an animal attack," the Minister added.

The death of the pregnant elephant has sparked a controversy, with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan terming the unfortunate death as "a painful thing" and Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar saying that the Centre has taken a "serious note" of the incident.

According to the preliminary post-mortem report, the immediate cause of the death of the female elephant was drowning followed by inhalation of water leading to lung failure.

The elephant was seen standing in the river with its mouth and trunk in the water for some relief from the pain after the explosive-filled fruit exploded in its mouth.

Kota (Rajasthan), Jun 6: A 14-year-old boy allegedly hanged himself to death on early Saturday morning shortly after he stopped playing PUBG throughout the night and went to sleep, said police. 

Railway Colony police station’s in-charge Hansraj Meena said the boy, a class 9 student and son of an Army man, was found hanging from the grill of the ventilator in his bedroom on early Saturday morning. 

Meena said according to the boy’s family members, the boy had downloaded the gaming programme on his mother’s mobile phone only three days back but had been playing the game virtually continuously for the last three days. 

He kept on playing the game till 3 am in a room in which his brother was studying, said Meena, adding the boy went to adjoining to sleep after that. His body was found hanging from the ventilator’s grill in the morning, he said, adding the boy was rushed to MBS Hospital, where he was declared “brought dead”. 

No suicide note was recovered in the case, the SHO said. The boy lived in Gandhi Colony in the city along with his mother and brother, while his father, a Tamil Nadu native and Army man, is currently posted in Arunachal Pradesh. The boy’s body has been kept in hospital’s morgue for the postmortem, the SHO said.

Mangaluru: ‘Team B-Human’, a city based charity organisation, has donated Rs 1 lakh for the treatment of the a three-year-old child from Kinya on the outskirts of the city, who had sustained severe burn injuries.

According to the reports, a cleric at the Kodaje Badriya Juma Masjid, was living in hardship with his wife and two kids and had to recently avail loan to repair his house which was severely damaged due to storm.

To add to his woes, his three-year old son sustained 80% burn injuries after hot water fell on him accidentally. The child is currently receiving treatment at a private hospital in Derlakatte. The child’s brother is battling kidney related ailment.

A fundraising campaign was recently run on local social media platforms to help the cleric in sustaining in the hardship and to raise fund for the treatment of his son.

Taking note of the viral messages on social media, ‘Team B-Human’ came to the rescue of cleric and donated Rs 1 lakh.

‘Team B-Human’ has also arranged Rs. 70 thousand from its well-wishers which will also be deposited to cleric’s account soon. ‘Team B-Human’ in a release added that it will take care of Batish until he is discharged from the hospital post-treatment. 

Founder of ‘Team B-Human’, Asif Deals, members Basha, Althaf, Sadiq, Shameem and others were present when the cheque of Rs. one lakh was handed over to the cleric.