ATS takes custody of Gauri Lankesh murder accused in arms haul case
Mumbai: A court here on Thursday remanded Hrishikesh Devdikar, arrested in the journalist Gauri Lankesh murder, in the custody of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad which is probing the 2018 Nalasopara arms haul case.
Devdikar, alleged mastermind of Lankesh's killing in Bengaluru in 2017, was arrested from Dhanbad in Jharkhand last month. The ATS took his custody from the Karnataka authorities and produced him before a court here on Thursday, a senior official said.
The court remanded Devdikar in ATS's custody till February 11, he said.
The ATS had in 2018 recovered crude bombs, explosive materials, country-made pistols and weapons such as choppers during raids at Nalasopara near Mumbai and some other places in Maharashtra, and arrested members of a Hindu extremist group.
The group had also allegedly planned to carry out an attack during the Sunburn music festival in Pune in 2017 because it `promoted western culture', but the attack did not materialise, the ATS had said.
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Kerala: Court imposes 41-year jail term on man for sexual assault of minor
Kozhikode (Kerala) (PTI): A Kerala court on Wednesday sentenced a man to 41 years in prison for sexually assaulting a minor boy near Valayam in 2021.
Nadapuram Fast Track Special Court judge K Naushad Ali sentenced 64-year-old Panchara Musa, also known as Ganapathiyat Musa, under various provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), according to special public prosecutor Manoj Aroor.
As the sentences are to run concurrently, the convict will have to serve the highest term of 20 years’ imprisonment, SPP Aroor said. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 52,000 on Musa.
The incident took place in August 2021 when the accused allegedly took the 14-year-old boy to a bus stop in Valayam town and sexually assaulted him, the prosecutor said. The accused also gave Rs 50 to the boy, he added.
Following the incident, the boy and his father lodged a complaint at the Valayam police station.
A case under various provisions of the POCSO Act and the IPC was registered, and the accused was subsequently arrested, the SPP said.
The prosecution examined 16 witnesses and submitted 16 documents to substantiate its case against the accused, he added.
