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10 Kerala CPI-M activists get double life term; ex-MLA gets 5 years’ jail for murder of 2 Cong workers

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Kochi, Jan 3: A CBI court here on Friday sentenced 10 CPI-M workers to a double life term and four others including a former party legislator to five years’ imprisonment in the Periya twin murder case.

On Saturday last, the CBI court had convicted 14 people and exonerated 10 in the case pertaining to the brutal murders of Kerala Youth Congress workers Kripesh (19) and P.K. Sarath Lal (24) on February 17, 2019, in Periya, Kasaragod district.

However, the families of the victims said they were expecting capital punishment for the accused and since that has not been given and 10 others were exonerated, they will speak with the Congress leadership and appeal against the verdict.

The victims were allegedly killed by CPI-M workers in a politically-motivated attack.

According to the court, eight of the accused were directly involved in the twin murders, while six others played indirect roles.

The court gave a double life term to the eight who were directly involved in the cold blooded murder, while two others, who were part of the conspiracy, were also given a double life term.

Among the convicted is former MLA and CPI-M district leader K.V. Kunhiraman, accused of forcibly removing the second accused from police custody. Kunhiraman has been given five years’ imprisonment.

Initially investigated by the Crime Branch, the case was handed over to the CBI after a plea was filed by the victims’ families in the High Court.

The CBI concluded that the murders stemmed from a cycle of politically-motivated attacks between CPI-M and Congress workers in the region.

At Periya in Kasargod there was a huge gathering of Congress party workers and family members of the two victims at their memorial site. After hearing the verdict, some of the women of the two workers’ families were seen in tears.

Leader of Opposition, V.D. Satheesan while talking about the verdict said it was notable that among the accused are a former CPI-M legislator and workers.

“All along, the CPI-M leadership and party denied their leader’s and party workers’ role in the brutal crime. Now see, they have been sentenced. This is the way the CPI-M works,” said Satheesan.

K.K. Rema, an independent legislator who won with the Congress-led UDF’s support, whose husband, T.P. Chandrasekharan, was also murdered by CPI-M workers, criticised the party’s attempts to protect the accused.

“Just look at the way the CPI-M employed high priced lawyers from Delhi to fight the case and more than Rs 1 crore have been spent to save the guilty,” said Rema.

AICC general secretary and Alappuzha Congress Lok Sabha member, K.C. Venugopal, said the verdict brings out the real face of the CPI-M as they engage in annihilating political opponents.

The counsel for the accused said once the papers of the verdict come, they will file an appeal against it.

The 10 accused, who have been sentenced to the double life term, will each have to pay a fine of Rs 2 lakh, while the remaining four have to pay a fine of Rs 10,000, and all of this will go to the families of the two victims.

Crime

Accused in air hostess sexual assault case was porn addict: Gurugram Police

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Gurugram, April 19: Gurugram Police said on Saturday that the accused in the air hostess sexual assault case was a porn addict, an official said.

Gurugram Police Spokesperson Sandeep Kumar said that the accused used to watch porn videos habitually, which was also confirmed from the mobile phone recovered from him.

He said that during police interrogation, it was found that the accused has a B.Sc. (OT) degree from a private institute from the years 2019-2022, and he was an average student in studies.

“For the last five months, he was working as a treatment machine technician in the ICU of the hospital. The accused going to the victim at the time of the incident was confirmed from the CCTV cameras installed in the hospital,” he said.

The Spokesperson said that during interrogation of the accused, it was also found that he had watched porn videos before the incident and even after committing the crime.

“Which is also being confirmed from the search history of the accused’s mobile phone. He was produced before the court on Saturday, from where he was sent to judicial custody for further proceedings,” he said.

Meanwhile, the SIT on Friday nabbed the accused, after analysing at least 800 CCTV cameras installed inside and outside of the hospital, who sexually assaulted the woman when she was on a ventilator.

The accused was identified as Deepak (25), a native of Muzaffarpur in Bihar. The accused had been working as a treatment machine technician in the ICU of the hospital for the past five months and was arrested in the Sadar police station area on Friday.

An official privy to the investigation said that the accused has confessed to his crime in the matter.

“While investigating the incident, eight police teams checked the footage of 800 CCTV cameras installed in the hospital, and around 50 hospital staff, including doctors, were questioned about the incident. Keeping in mind the seriousness of the incident, the police teams investigated from every angle and collected a lot of information related to the incident, as a result of which the police got great success in identifying the accused who committed the crime,” said Arpit Jain, DCP (Headquarters).

On Thursday, Vikas Kumar Arora, Commissioner of Police, Gurugram, had constituted an SIT and ordered the identification and arrest of the accused.

As per the order of the Police Commissioner, an SIT was constituted under the leadership of Arpit Jain, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Headquarters, Gurugram, in which a total of eight different police teams were given special directions and deployed to collect information and evidence related to the incident.

Dr. Sanjay Durani, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, said in a statement that: “We have been informed that the police have identified a suspect who has been taken into custody in connection with the ongoing investigation concerning allegations of sexual assault on a patient. On the basis of information provided to us by the police, we have suspended the suspect employee. As we await the final outcome of the investigation, we will continue to provide full support to the police.”

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Crime

Manipur govt launches verification of papers of arms license holders

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Imphal, April 19: The Manipur government has launched a drive to verify the licensed arms and asked all the district administrations to examine the papers of the arms license holders and arms dealers, officials said on Saturday.

A senior official said that the Commissioner (Home) has, in an urgent circular, asked the Deputy Commissioners of all 16 districts to take steps to verify the papers of arms license holders and arms dealers in their respective districts.

Accordingly, all the Deputy Commissioners directed the arms license holders and arms dealers to submit their papers in their nearest or respective police stations on or before April 25.

“Non-compliance with the orders may lead to penalisation and cancellation of arms license,” the official said, referring to the circular of the Commissioner (Home). Till March 6, around 1,000 looted and illegally held weapons, including many sophisticated arms, and a huge cache of ammunition, have been returned to the security forces since Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla appealed for the first time on February 20.

The initiative to recover the looted and illegally held arms began on May 31, 2023, when former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh made an appeal to all concerned to surrender the firearms looted from security forces and police armouries.

Officials said that before Singh’s resignation as Chief Minister on February 9, a total of 3,422 firearms had been voluntarily surrendered to the authorities and police stations in different districts.

Various official reports, political parties claimed that during the ethnic riots, which broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023, over 6,020 varied types of sophisticated arms and lakhs of different types of ammunition were looted from the police stations and police outposts by the mobs, attackers and militants.

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Crime

Put under house arrest again, says Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

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Srinagar, April 18: Senior religious and Huriyat Conference (HC) Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, said on Friday that authorities have placed him under house arrest, thereby denying him the right to offer congregational prayers during the day.

Mirwaiz Farooq said on X, “Every Friday I am put under arbitrary house arrest ! Putting pressure on me not to speak up, the ban also aims to weaken the centrality of Muslim institutions of the valley-the Jama Masjid, office of the Mirwaiz, and cause collective grief to Muslims and all those who oppose this authoritarian and sectarian outlook. My house detention case is still pending in court, where I am seeking relief from the Hon’ble High Court, but In such times patience remains our only strength.”

Mirwaiz traditionally delivers the Friday sermon at the Jamia Masjid in the Nowhatta area of old Srinagar city. He also heads the Anjuman-e-Nusratul Islam, a religious organisation that runs some educational institutions in Kashmir, including the Islamia High School in Rajouri Kadal area of Srinagar.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) last month declared the Mirwaiz-headed Awami Action Committee (ACC) a banned organisation for five years. The ACC was formed in 1963 during the Holy Relic agitation by Mirwaiz Maulana Mohammad Farooq. After the elder Mirwaiz was assassinated in 1990 by the terrorists, the ACC came to be headed by his son, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

The MHA order said that the ACC has been encouraging youth to violence and is acting in a manner prejudicial to the interests of the state.

Mirwaiz Farooq, who is the chairman of the Hurriyat Conference, has witnessed the desertion of several affiliates. As many as 12 Hurriyat-linked organisations have broken off from secessionism, reposing trust in the Constitution of India.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that “separatism has become history in Kashmir”, and the unifying policies of the Modi government have eliminated separatism in J&K. He has also said this is a victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’.

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