Faridabad: Similar names lead to mistaken release of rape accused instead of prisoner granted bail
Faridabad (PTI): Their names were the same, their fathers’ too, their crimes vastly different. And so it was that the Nitesh accused of repeatedly raping a minor boy was mistakenly released on bail instead of the Nitesh charged with trespassing.
That the two Niteshs were lodged in the same prison just added to the chain of coincidences, perhaps confounding the administration of Neemka Jail, Faridabad.
Sadar police station SHO Umesh Kumar assured that a search is underway and that the rape accused will be nabbed soon.
Nitesh Pandey (27), son of Ravinder Pandey, was arrested on October 2021 for raping a nine-year-old boy in Faridabad.
Complicating matters, there is a second individual named Nitesh, who is 24-years-old and also has a father named Ravinder. He was jailed the previous Sunday on charges of house trespass and assault.
The second Nitesh, accused of assault, was granted bail on Monday by the Faridabad court Chief Judicial Magistrate.
Interestingly, even though both men share the same name, only one seems to have a surname. A factor enough to avoid any major confusion, however, Nitesh Pandey was freed instead of the Nitesh who was set to be released on Tuesday.
The jail administration, in an attempt appearing to shift blame, is now claiming that Nitesh Pandey managed to obtain his release by 'hiding his identity'.
"We have lodged a complaint with the Sadar Police Station against Nitish Pandey for obtaining his release by hiding his identity," Jail Deputy Superintendent Vikram Singh said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
