Goa AAP chief Amit Palekar arrested for 'misrepresentation of facts' in road accident case
Panaji, Aug 31: The Goa Crime Branch on Thursday arrested state Aam Aadmi Party president Amit Palekar for allegedly misrepresenting facts in connection with an accident wherein a Mercedes car mowed down three people near Panaji earlier this month, an official said.
Palekar has been accused of misrepresenting facts by introducing a wrong person as the car driver before the investigation officer in an attempt to save the main accused who was at the wheels at the time of the accident, a senior police official told PTI.
The AAP leader, however, said he has nothing to do with the crime and claimed the action against him was part of a "dirty politics".
Palekar was arrested under Indian Penal Code section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), the police official said.
Earlier, businessman Paresh Sawardekar, who owns a chain of supermarkets and a real estate firm, was arrested after the Mercedes car he was allegedly driving in an inebriated condition on August 7 hit five vehicles in Banastarim village near Panaji, killing three persons, police had said.
The accident, in which three cars, a motorcycle and a scooter were hit, took place on the Ponda-Panaji national highway, some 15 kilometres from the state capital, he said.
On Thursday morning, the police took the AAP Goa chief into custody from his office in Panaji, the official said.
Talking to reporters while he was being taken away by police, Palekar claimed he was arrested as part of a "dirty politics".
He also claimed that he was offered to join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a couple of days back, but he refused.
"I was told that 'we will teach you a lesson if you don't concede our request'," Palekar said without naming anyone.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
