B'luru student spends Rs 35 lakhs meant for education, sets house on fire to distract dad, arrested
Bengaluru: A 22-year-old BTech graduate, Ranjith Vivek, was arrested for setting his own house on fire to divert his father’s attention after spending Rs 35 lakhs of the Rs 1.10 crore his father had given him to pursue higher education abroad.
The incident occurred in Hiradahalli village, and initially, police suspected that miscreants had set the house ablaze. However, after reviewing CCTV footage from a nearby camera, the police grew suspicious of Vivek’s movements, as reported by The New Indian Express on Thursday.
Upon questioning, Vivek admitted to the crime, confessing that he had spent the money on gambling and a girl.
He further revealed that he feared his father, Jagannath, a member of Bidarahalli Gram Panchayat in Bengaluru East taluk, would demand the money back. To divert his father’s attention, Vivek decided to set the house on fire.
To execute his plan, Vivek disconnected the CCTV cameras in his home, but he was still caught on a nearby camera. Police revealed that he had purchased 20 liters of petrol in six cans, using four cans to ignite the fire, TNIE added.
At the time of the incident, Vivek, his parents, and sibling were inside the house. Fortunately, they managed to escape unhurt. The family alerted the fire department, but by the time the fire was extinguished, most of the household items had been completely destroyed.
Vivek has been booked under multiple charges, including attempt to murder.
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`Murdered' woman returns home; four accused still in jail
Mandsaur, Mar 21 (PTI): A woman believed to have been murdered sometime in September 2023 returned safe to her home in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district a few days ago, even as four men arrested for the supposed killing continue to be in prison.
The story of Lalita Bai (35), resident of Navali village, is stranger than fiction, or a film script.
A case was registered for her `murder' at Thandla town in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh in September 2023, days after her family reported that she had gone missing from Gandhi Sagar area of Mandsaur.
Her relatives even identified the body of a woman with her head crushed as Lalita Bai, said Gandhi Sagar police station in-charge Taruna Bharadwaj.
So imagine their surprise when Lalita Bai returned home on March 11, safe and sound.
According to her, she left home on her own with one Shahrukh and travelled to Bhanpura.
There, without her knowledge, he `sold' her to another person, also named Shahrukh, for Rs 5 lakh, Lalita Bai told police.
The second man took her to Kota in Rajasthan, where she stayed with him for nearly 18 months.
"However, as soon as I got the opportunity, I ran away and came back," Lalita told PTI Videos.
"I do not have a mobile phone, so I was unable to contact my family members," she said.
"After we had filed a missing person report, Thandla police informed us about the recovery of a woman's body with her head crushed. We went there and identified it as the body of our daughter on the basis of a tattoo and a black string tied around her leg. We performed the last rites too," Lalita's father Nanuram Banchhada said.
Police, meanwhile, arrested four men including Shahrukh who had allegedly lured her away.
After her return, her father took her to the Gandhi Sagar police station, and informed the officials that she was very much alive.
Gandhi Sagar police then informed their counterparts in Thandla about the development.
As to the fate of the four men who are in prison, it is for the Thandla police to take necessary action, said Mandsaur Superintendent of Police Abhishek Anand.
Jhabua SP Padmavilochan Shukla told PTI that the local court has sought information about the matter.
"We will first conduct a medical examination and DNA test of the woman, and also record afresh the statements of witnesses," he said.
Only after a thorough investigation the police would be able to state conclusively that the woman who turned up at Gandhi Sagar police station earlier this month is the same woman who was thought to have been murdered, Shukla said.
