J&K sex scandal: 5 convicts get 10-year jail terms
Chandigarh, June 6: Five people, including an ex-Border Security Force Deputy Inspector General and a Deputy Superintendent of Police, were on Wednesday sentenced to 10 years in jail by a special court here in the infamous sex scandal that rocked the state in 2006.
Those convicted and sentenced include former BSF DIG K.C. Padhi, former DSP of Jammu and Kashmir Police Mohammad Ashraf Mir, and three others.
The sex scandal came to light in 2006 after the police recovered some video CDs of minor Kashmiri girls being sexually exploited by the police officials, ministers and other influential people.
The court, while convicting five people on May 30, had acquitted two persons named in the scandal, former Additional Advocate General Anil Sethi and Mehrajudin Malik.
The kingpin of the scandal, Sabeena, and her husband died during trial.
The then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
CBI investigations had found 56 people allegedly involved in the racket.
The CBI investigation found influential people, including ministers and others, also linked to the scandal.
The Supreme Court had transferred the case to Chandigarh later in 2006.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
