Mira-Bhayandar, Jan 02: The Kashigaon Police Crime Detection Team has arrested three accused involved in a house burglary case and recovered stolen gold ornaments, cash and burglary tools.

According to the police, the incident took place on the morning of December 30, 2025, when the complainant, Shraddha Anil Shelar, a homemaker and resident of Hatkesh, Kashigaon, had locked her house and gone to Ramdev Park, Mira Road, along with her husband Anil Shelar to file nomination papers for the Ward No. 13 municipal councillor election.

When the couple returned home around 1.30 pm, they found the main door broken and household articles scattered. On checking the iron cupboard, it was discovered that gold ornaments weighing about 43 grams, including a gold chain, bracelet, earrings, nose ring and pendant worth approximately ₹2.16 lakh, along with ₹20,000 in cash, had been stolen.

Based on the complaint, Kashigaon Police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for theft and house-breaking.

During the course of investigation, the police tracked down the accused and arrested them from Bhayandar Railway Station while they were attempting to flee to another state.

The arrested accused have been identified as Irfan Yusuf Khan (25), Sagar Dilip Soni (23) and Ajay Vijay Torne (19), all residents of the Mira Road area. One of the accused is originally from Nepal, police said.

Police have recovered the stolen gold ornaments, cash and the tools used for committing the burglary from the accused. Further investigation revealed that accused Irfan and Sagar have prior criminal records, with theft and house-breaking cases registered against them at Nayanagar, Navghar and Mira Road police stations, and had previously served jail sentences.

Mumbai: Shiv Sena UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, on Friday, January 2, wrote to Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, highlighting the increasing incidents of AI apps being prompted to sexualise and undress women by unauthorised use of their images on social media, calling it gross misuse of AI.

Moreover, the Rajya Sabha MP sought urgent intervention of the IT Minister and said that there have to be guardrails put in place by features such as Grok that do not violate women’s dignity, while big tech firms need to take the onus.

In a letter dated January 2, she wrote, “There have to be guardrails put in place by features such as Grok that do not violate women’s dignity, big tech firms need to take the onus. And I wish men indulging in such behaviour were educated better at their homes & schools to not become such sick perverts in their adulthood.”

She further added, “What is worse is that Grok is enabling this behaviour by adhering to such requests.”

She stated that similar incidents are “going absolutely unchecked” on other platforms. “I write to you as an active member of the Standing Committee on IT & Communication, to urge you as a minister to take this up strongly with X to ensure safeguards are built in their AI apps to make the platform a safe space for women,” she wrote in the letter.

“Our country cannot be a bystander to women’s dignity being violated publicly and digitally with zero consequences under the garb of creativity and innovation that condone such prompts. While we welcome AI and its role in making lives easier for the world, we will not allow a proliferation of such demeaning acts towards women,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 2: The BJP on Friday intensified its attack on the Congress over the Sabarimala gold theft case, asserting that the controversy cannot be resolved without a probe by central agencies and alleging that the Congress leadership, including Sonia Gandhi, has serious questions to answer.

Former BJP state president K. Surendran said the ongoing state-level investigation would not bring out the truth and was being structured to protect politically influential individuals.

Surendran recalled that the Kerala High Court had, at the very outset, expressed suspicion over the possible involvement of notorious idol-smuggling syndicates.

He said subsequent disclosures by Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and senior legislator Ramesh Chennithala lent credibility to concerns that the stolen gold and artefacts may have entered the international antiquities market.

“What was stolen is invaluable. This is not a local crime but an international idol-smuggling racket,” Surendran said.

The BJP leader placed particular emphasis on what he termed the Congress angle, referring to a photograph of Sonia Gandhi with prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti that surfaced during the course of the investigation.

Surendran said there was initially no reason for suspicion, as such interactions could appear routine. However, he accused senior Congress leaders, including Chennithala and Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, of gradually retreating from their initial positions once the issue gained public traction.

“Why did they step back? Why is there no clear explanation?” he asked.

Criticising Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s remarks on Sonia Gandhi as “political manoeuvring,” Surendran demanded clarity on who introduced the prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti to the Congress leadership.

He further alleged that individuals with close familial links to Sonia Gandhi in Italy are involved in the marketing of antiquities, arguing that this alleged international dimension warrants a thorough investigation by central agencies.

Surendran claimed that Chennithala may not have fully grasped the implications initially but later “entangled himself” by making partial disclosures.

“If he has information, why is he not standing firmly by it?” he asked, accusing the Congress of evasiveness and selective silence.

In a sarcastic remark, Surendran said that if the prevailing narrative is that CPI(M) leaders stole the gold, it may have to be amended to suggest that the Congress facilitated its sale.

“The Congress has an equal stake in this case and will not walk away unscathed,” he said.

Surendran also named former Travancore Devaswom Board member K.P. Shankardas as a key figure who, he alleged, enjoys high-level protection and has so far escaped scrutiny.

He claimed that arrests of prominent individuals took place only under strict court directives and criticised changes made to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) after the questioning of former Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran, alleging that officers sympathetic to the CPI (M) were subsequently inducted.

All these factors, he said, underline the urgent need for a comprehensive investigation by central agencies.