Teen allegedly raped in Kanpur; local journalist held, cop's role under scanner
Kanpur (UP)(PTI): A local journalist has been taken into custody and a police constable's role is also under investigation in connection with the alleged abduction and gang rape of a 14-year-old girl in Kanpur's Sachendi area, officials said on Wednesday amid allegations of police apathy by the victim's family
According to the complaint, the minor, a class 7 dropout, had stepped out of her home around 10 pm on Monday night when she was allegedly abducted by two men travelling in an SUV. One of the accused was wearing a police uniform.
The girl told the police that she was taken to a deserted location near a railway track in Sachendi, where she was allegedly sexually assaulted inside the vehicle for nearly two hours. She was later abandoned in an unconscious state outside her house, they said.
The victim's brother said he found her lying outside the house around midnight in a semi-conscious condition, according to the complaint. He said he immediately alerted the police by dialling 112, but alleged that no prompt action was taken.
The family later approached senior officials on Tuesday, following which an FIR was registered under sections related to kidnapping and gang rape.
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The girl's brother alleged that when the family informed the police personnel that one of the accused was a policeman, they were turned away from a local police outpost.
Only after approaching senior officers was the case registered, he claimed, adding that the names of the accused were initially omitted from the complaint.
The police said that efforts are on to identify and arrest the police constable, and stressed that the investigation is being conducted with complete transparency.
The victim has undergone a medical examination and the report is awaited, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Dinesh Tripathi said.
"An FIR was initially registered against unknown persons under sections related to abduction and gang rape apart from under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act," Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Dinesh Tripathi told PTI.
Initially, the case was registered on the basis of the complaint against two unidentified accused persons, he said.
"During the investigation, the involvement of a police constable and a local journalist identified as Shivbaran came to light. The journalist has been taken into custody and is currently being questioned," he said.
"His arrest will be made after the interrogation is completed," the DCP said, adding efforts are on to identify and arrest the police constable involved in the case.
"All necessary steps are being taken, and the investigation is being conducted with complete transparency," Tripathi said.
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Kerala: ED files money laundering case in Sabarimala gold loss case
Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate on Friday filed a money laundering case in the Sabarimala gold loss case in Kerala, official sources said.
The federal probe agency's Kochi zonal office has registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), an ED equivalent of a police FIR, under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
The politically sensitive case is already being investigated by a state special investigation team (SIT) under the supervision of the Kerala High Court.
In December, the high court had allowed the ED to undertake an independent investigation into the case after it dismissed objections raised by the SIT against sharing the case information with the central agency.
The SIT is probing two cases related to the gold loss incident and has arrested 11 people so far. The latest to be arrested by the SIT was Kandararu Rajeevaru, the chief priest of the Lord Ayyappa temple.
The other prominent persons arrested in the case by the SIT are Bengaluru-based businessman and prime accused Unnikrishnan Potty and former Travancore Devaswom Board president A Padmakumar.
The ED is expected to soon look for more evidence, question the accused, and it may also go on to attach certain assets of those involved if it finds that they generated "proceeds of crime", according to the officials.
The probe is related to a series of irregularities, including official misconduct, administrative lapses and a criminal conspiracy to misappropriate the gold from the various artefacts of the Lord Ayyappa shrine.
The investigation by the SIT, and now by the ED, is related to the loss of gold from the gold-cladded copper plates of the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and the door frames of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple.
The SIT has informed the High Court that its probe found "a series of serious official misconduct and administrative lapses on the part of the Devaswom officials right from the initial correspondence till the handing over of the door frame plates, connected plates, Dwarapalaka plates and pillar plates to Unnikrishnan Potty without proper authorisation".
It further said in its statement that Govardhan, Pankaj Bhandari, the CEO of Chennai-based Smart Creations, which carried out the electroplating of the artefacts from the temple, Potty and the other accused hatched a criminal conspiracy with malicious intention to misappropriate the gold cladded on the copper plates in and around the shrine.
"It is found during the investigation that all these criminal activities were part of a large conspiracy and an organised crime committed by the accused persons.
"They had a larger plan to dismantle other gold-clad items on the Sabarimala Sreekovil and to extract the gold from them for misappropriation," it said.
