Cash, valuables looted after giving intoxicating butter milk in train
Railway Yatri Sangha member cheated by strangers
Udupi, October 13: A member of Railway Yatri Sangha who was travelling along with his sister, was looted of cash and valuable worth lakhs by strangers after offering him the intoxicating butter milk, in the train on Friday.
Railway Yatri Sangha treasurer Ramachandra Acharya (60) of Kinnimulki in Udupi and his elder sister and wife of Krishna Bhat of Bylur in Karkala, Radhamma (75) have consumed the intoxicating butter milk offered by the stranger in the train and became unconscious. After this, they were admitted to a private hospital in Udupi and got released on Saturday.
After making them unconscious, the strangers looted total Rs 30,000 cash, mobile phone, coins and new cloths worth Rs 2000, from Ramachandra and ear ring, two rings, one gold chain and Rs 15,000 from Radhamma, it is said.
About incident
For religious rituals of his brother-in-law, Ramachandra Acharya, along with his sisters Radhamma, Seema Rao and Tulasi Upadhya have been to the Pejawar Mutt at Nasik in Maharashtra by train on October 7 from Udupi. After completing the programme, they boarded the Mangala-Nizamuddin Express train from Nasik to Udupi on October 11 at 6 am. Among them, Radhamma and Ramachandra were travelling in S-3 coach, while others in S-2 coach. Two strangers, aged between 50-60 years of age, introduced themselves to Radhamma and Ramachandra Acharya. Conversing in Hindi, the strangers introduced themselves as cloth merchants from Delhi and were going to Kerala for business and became close to them.
In the evening, the train stops at Chiplun railway station in Maharashtra. At that time, Radhamma went to toilet and Ramachandra Acharya went outside the train. At this time, both the strangers brought butter milk sachets and offered them to Radhamma and Ramachandra. Yielding to their force, they drank it and fell asleep.
Ramchandra woke up when the train reached Kundapura at around 1.30 am on Friday and noticed that the amount kept in his purse and pocket was looted. He went to another coach and informed his sisters. But Radhamma who consumed the entire butter milk fell unconscious. They informed the railway police by the time they reached Indrali railway station and both of them were admitted to a private hospital in Udupi.
‘After consuming intoxicating butter milk, we both became unconscious. They have looted the cash, mobile and gold ornaments. Since my sister slept on one side, they took one ear ring and left another. Fortunately, gold ornaments kept inside the bag in which old cloths were kept are safe as they did not notice them’, said Ramachandra Acharya.
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Indian mobile hospital treats over 2,200 cyclone-hit people as New Delhi ramps up relief efforts in
Colombo (PTI): A mobile hospital set up by India in Sri Lanka has provided medical care to over 2,200 people affected by Cyclone Ditwah, as New Delhi ramped up its assistance to the flood-ravaged island nation with engineering support and delivery of fresh relief consignments, the Indian mission here said on Sunday.
Sri Lanka has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse triggered by the cyclone, leaving several districts isolated and severely straining the country's disaster-response capacity.
At least 627 people have been killed and 190 remain missing as of Sunday noon due to catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16.
Sharing a social media post by the Ministry of External Affairs on its X handle, the Indian High Commission said a field hospital set up by India in Mahiyanganaya near Kandy has provided medical care to more than 2,200 people affected by the cyclone since December 5.
The hospital has also performed 67 minor procedures and three surgeries, it said. The field hospital was airlifted to Sri Lanka by an IAF C-17 aircraft along with a 78-member Indian medical team on Tuesday.
In another post, the mission said Indian Army engineers, working with Sri Lanka Army Engineers and the Road Development Authority, in Kilinochchi have begun removing a damaged bridge on the Paranthan–Karachchi–Mullaitivu (A35) road, a key route disrupted by the cyclone.
"This joint effort marks another step toward restoring vital connectivity for affected communities," it said.
India has additionally sent nearly 1,000 tonnes of food items and clothing contributed by the people of Tamil Nadu. Of these, about 300 tonnes reached Colombo on Sunday morning aboard three Indian Naval ships.
High Commissioner Santosh Jha handed over the supplies to Sri Lankan Minister for Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe.
India, on November 28, launched 'Operation Sagar Bandhu', a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) initiative, to aid Sri Lanka in its recovery from the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
Since the launch of the operation, India has provided about 58 tonnes of relief material, including dry rations, tents, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, essential cloths, water purification kits and about 4.5 tonnes of medicines and surgical equipment, the Indian mission said in a press release on Sunday.
Another 60 tonnes of equipment, including generators, inflatable rescue boats, Outboard Motors, and excavators, have also been brought to Sri Lanka, it said, adding that 185 tonnes of Bailey Bridge units were airlifted to restore critical connectivity along with 44 engineers.
Two columns of the National Disaster Response Force, comprising 80 experts and K9 units with specially trained dogs, assisted with immediate rescue and relief efforts in Sri Lanka.
Besides the field hospital in Mahiyanganaya, medical centres have also been set up in the badly hit Ja-Ela region and in Negombo. INS Vikrant, INS Udaygiri, and INS Sukanya provided immediate rescue and relief assistance to Sri Lanka.
Apart from the two Chetak helicopters deployed from INS Vikrant, two heavy-lift, MI-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force are actively involved in evacuations and airlifting relief material, the release said.
At the request of the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre, a virtual meeting was organised between DMC and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s National Remote Sensing Centre on Saturday.
Since the onset of the disaster, ISRO has been providing maps to assist DMC in its rescue efforts, the release said.
