Mangaluru court sentences rape accused to 20 years rigorous imprisonment, imposes fine
Mangaluru: The Additional District and Sessions Court, FTSC-2 POCSO Special Court, Judge Manu K. S., on Wednesday sentenced accused K.S. Keshav Poojary (43) to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a 15-year-old girl in Kalkaje Dondole, Dharmasthala village, Belthangady. The court also imposed a fine of Rs. 55,000 on the accused.
According to sources, the accused, K.S. Keshav Poojary, was a neighbor of the victim and frequently visited her house. He raped the girl despite her objections when nobody was at the house. Later, the girl's mother noticed swelling in her daughter's leg and took her to the hospital, accompanied by the accused. During the medical examination, it was discovered that the girl was five months pregnant.
The accused immediately pressured the girl to conceal his identity and instructed her to name someone else as the perpetrator. Fearing his threats, the girl initially provided a false name.
However, after receiving counseling and regaining her courage, she revealed that Keshav Poojary was responsible for her pregnancy. Based on her statement, the Dharmasthala police arrested the accused. Police Inspector Nagesh K. filed a charge sheet against him.
Although the girl underwent an abortion, DNA testing of the fetal material, along with blood samples from the girl and the accused, confirmed that Keshav Poojary was the biological father.
The trial judge sentenced Keshav Poojary to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 50,000 under Sections 376(2)(n), 376(3), and section 6 of the POCSO Act for the rape.
Additionally, he was sentenced to three months of simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 5,000 under Section 506 for criminal intimidation. The court ordered the accused to pay a total of Rs. 55,000 to the victim. Furthermore, the District Legal Services Authority was directed to provide additional compensation of Rs. 6,45,000 to the girl under the Victims' Compensation Scheme.
Special Public Prosecutor K. Badrinath Nayari represented the government in the case.
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Chhattisgarh coal levy scam: Rs 4 crore assets of suspended IAS officer attached
Raipur (PTI): The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has attached properties of Rs 4 crore belonging to suspended IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, an accused in a coal levy scam, for allegedly amassing assets beyond his known sources of income, officials said.
The EOW had registered a disproportionate assets case against Vishnoi in July 2024, an official release said on Saturday.
During the investigation, the agency identified nine immovable properties, valued at around Rs 4 crore, allegedly acquired through illicit means in the names of Vishnoi’s family members and associated firms, it said.
“An application seeking attachment of these properties was filed before the Special Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act in Raipur. Following a hearing on April 17, the court ordered attachment of all such properties,” the statement said.
Accordingly, the Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offences Wing attached the properties. The attached properties cannot be sold or transferred, it said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier provisionally attached five immovable properties linked to Vishnoi in connection with the coal levy scam, it added.
Proceedings are also underway in cases involving other public servants, including action taken in September last year against properties linked to Saumya Chaurasia, who was deputy secretary in the chief minister’s office during the Congress government, the statement said.
Vishnoi, a 2009-batch Indian Administrative Service officer, was first arrested in 2022 by the ED in connection with the alleged coal levy scam. He was among several accused who were granted bail last year by the Supreme Court.
The case refers to an alleged Rs 540 crore racket between July 2020 and June 2022, when an illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne was being extorted by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen for every tonne of coal transported in the state.
