Mumbai school teacher gets 5-year jail term for sexually assaulting minor girls
Mumbai (PTI): A special court in Mumbai has sentenced a 28-year-old school teacher here to five years' rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting minor girl students.
A teacher is expected to act as a protector and such heinous acts by the accused have left a lifelong "psychological and emotional impact" on the victims, special judge Seema Jadhav said in the order on Tuesday.
The accused, who worked as a teacher at a school in suburban Govandi, was held guilty under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act by the court.
He was accused of sexually assaulting three students, aged below 12, of his class.
In the detailed order, available on Wednesday, the court said the accused is not a layman but a teacher, "the only career that influences other professions."
"Hence, the teacher is expected to act as a protector. Such heinous acts by the accused have cast a lifelong psychological and emotional impact on the victims," the judge said.
The court also noted the teacher has no criminal antecedents.
Considering the facts in the present case, the minimum punishment under relevant provisions of the POCSO Act "would meet the ends of justice", the court said, while sentencing him to five years in jail.
The mother of one of the victims complained to the police in September 2019, following which a case was registered against the teacher.
As per the complaint, the three victims were students of standard fifth and the accused was their class teacher.
The victims have accused him of "frequently touching them inappropriately".
The court held that there is no reason to disbelieve the testimony of the victims, which is corroborated by other witnesses as well.
The accused has not brought on record any probable evidence to corroborate his defense of false implication at the instance of another teacher, it said.
"Upon evaluating the testimony of victims and other witnesses, the prosecution has been able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt that the accused has committed non-penetrative sexual assault, as defined in section 7 of the POCSO Act, upon the victims below 12 years repeatedly," the court said.
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ED arrests Sandeepa Virk, 'cosmetologist' for alleged money laundering
New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate said on Wednesday it has arrested a woman, who claims to be an actor and a cosmetologist, under the anti-money laundering law in a case of alleged fraud and misrepresentation.
The agency said the purported links of the woman, Sandeepa Virk, with a Reliance Group executive, Angarai Natarajan Sethuraman (President, Corporate Affairs), are also under its scanner. Sethuraman, in a statement, denied any connection with Virk or any transactions related to her.
Virk was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Tuesday after searches were conducted against her and her associates in Delhi and Mumbai over the last two days.
A special court sent her to the ED's custody till August 14, the agency said. The woman claims to be the owner of a skin care products selling website named hyboocare.com, which the ED claimed was a "front" for money laundering.
She and her associates are being probed for allegedly exerting undue influence through "misrepresentation" and "defrauding" individuals by soliciting money under false pretences.
According to an Instagram ID of Virk, she is an actor and entrepreneur and the founder of the said website.
The federal agency said in a statement that the woman was also "in touch with" Sethuraman, former director of erstwhile Reliance Capital Limited.
She was communicating with him regarding "illegal liaisoning", the ED claimed, adding that the searches at Sethuraman's residence "confirmed" these allegations.
"Besides, diversion of funds for personal benefit has also been unearthed during the course of the search action," it said.
The ED alleged that public money worth about Rs 18 crore belonging to Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL) was disbursed to Sethuraman in 2018 by "flouting" prudent lending norms.
The funds were lent under terms that allowed a deferment of the principal amount as well as the interest, with multiple waivers granted and no due diligence conducted, it said.
The ED claimed that besides this, a home loan of Rs 22 crore was provided by Reliance Capital Limited by "violating" the prudential norms. "A large part of these loans are seen to have been eventually siphoned off and remained unpaid," it alleged.
Sethuraman, in a statement, dismissed the allegations as "baseless". He denied any connection with Virk or any transactions related to her.
Detailing about Virk's web portal, the agency said it purportedly sold FDA-approved beauty products. However, the ED said the products listed on the website have been found to be non-existent and the portal lacks a user registration option and is plagued by persistent payment gateway issues.
A scrutiny of the website uncovered minimal social-media engagement, an inactive WhatsApp contact number and an absence of transparent organisational details, all of which reinforce the finding of "non-genuine" commercial activity, the ED claimed.
"These factors, including limited product range, inflated pricing, false claims of FDA approval and technical inconsistencies, indicate that the website serves as a front for laundering funds," it said.
Another social media-hosted bio data of the woman said she is a certified cosmetologist.
The ED said several "incriminating" documents were seized during the searches and the statement of a man named Farrukh Ali, stated to be an associate of Virk, was recorded.
The money-laundering case stems from an FIR lodged by the Punjab Police.
Sethuraman said that the home loan he received from Reliance Capital was granted following due process and was secured by the property offered as collateral.
