Udupi: COVID-19 nodal officer tests positive for Coronavirus
Udupi: Dr. Prashant Bhat, the COVID-19 nodal officer of the district on Thursday tested positive for the virus following which the District Health and Family Welfare Officer has also been sent to home quarantine.
Ever since the detection of COVID-19 in the Udupi District, Dr. Prashant was working as the nodal officer for the pandemic. District Health and Family Welfare Officer, Dr. Sudhirchandra Sood, who was working closely with Dr. Prashant during the course of the pandemic, has also been sent to home quarantine as a precautionary measure.
READ ALSO: Udupi: Police officer, auto-driver get down into well to rescue 80-year-old woman
Dr. Prashant has been serving as the nodal officer for four and a half months and had been following up about each COVID-19 case that was detected in the district over the course of time.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Ashram Teacher, hailed as hero last year, booked for sexual abuse of minor boys
Ujjain: In September last year, a teacher at an Ujjain ashram “came to the aid” of a minor rape victim who was going door to door seeking help. The same teacher has now been arrested along with a caretaker for allegedly sexually abusing at least three minor boys at their ashram.
Three FIRs under relevant provisions of the IPC as well as under multiple sections of the POCSO Act have been registered by the police against the 21-year-old teacher, Rahul Sharma, and ashram caretaker Ajay Thakur. The police further informed that both have been sent to judicial custody, adding that there are many more victims who haven’t filed a complaint yet.
Ujjain SP Pradeep Sharma told The Indian Express: “So far three children have come forward and made the allegations. We have arrested two persons in this case.”
In September 2023, CCTV footage emerged of the minor girl, bleeding and partially clothed, after she was raped by an autorickshaw driver. The footage showed no one coming to her aid even as she walked around the area for an hour, with one resident even shooing her away.
Sharma had said he helped the girl after he spotted her outside the ashram. At the time, he had told The Indian Express: “This is a holy town, people here are supposed to be helpful, but no one helped her… there was no humanity.”
The police have ruled out any connection with the Ujjain rape case for now. “We sent through 200 CCTV videos and his role has so far been ruled out,” said a senior police officer. According to police, children from poor families were sent to be trained as pandits in this ashram, affiliated to the state Sanskrit board.
Around 10 days ago, a minor boy who was allegedly sexually assaulted by Thakur complained to his mother when he returned home. “The parents of the child came to the ashram. Then the ashram worker Thakur was sacked. Later, many more parents visited the ashram and levelled allegations,” said a senior officer.
The ashram authorities contacted police after several parents made allegations against Sharma and had a confrontation with the ashram official. An ashram official, Gajanand, said: “We called the police to help us but they arrested our staff. The allegations are false.”
However, the officer said: “When we arrived, we found that the ashram officials were the suspects. There are many more victims in this case and we tried to convince them to file a case. Policemen dressed in civil clothes also tried speaking to the children, but they refused as they were scared,” the officer said.
