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Malad School Case: Mumbai Crime Branch Report Finds No Evidence Of Sexual Assault On 3-Year-Old Girl, Denies Mother’s Allegations

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Mumbai: The Mumbai Crime Branch Unit-11 submitted an investigation report regarding the alleged sexual molestation of a 3.6-year-old girl at a high-end school in Malad West on February 12, 2025, to the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights on September 11. Based on the evidence, the report strongly denied that the incident occurred.

According to the report, the victim was safe the entire day at school. After reviewing CCTV footage, recording statements from school staff, doctors from Cloudnine Hospital in Malad West, a neighbour of the complainant, and examining the medical report from Cooper Hospital, it was revealed that the girl and the suspect music teacher were not seen together on that day, and no evidence of a sexual assault was found at any point.

The report claimed that the teacher and other school staff had never heard the word ‘monster’ and claimed the word originated from the complainant and her daughter.

The victim’s 36-year-old mother, an advertising professional, filed a complaint at the Bangur Nagar police station. She had been claiming the ayah (nanny) who took her daughter to the washroom and the male music teacher allegedly molested her child, referring to the teacher as the “monster” who assaulted her.

An FIR was registered on February 13 under Section 64(2) (punishment for rape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Sections 4 (punishment for penetrative sexual assault), 8 (punishment for sexual assault), and 12 (sexual harassment of a child) of the POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act).

During the investigation, the girl’s mother filed a petition in the Bombay High Court requesting that the investigation be transferred to another agency. Following the Bombay High Court’s direction, the investigation was handed over to the Crime Branch Unit-11 on July 9, 2025.

According to the Crime Branch report, statements were recorded of Dr. Dehuti Wacchani, 31, and Manasi Verma, 36, of Cloudnine Hospital, who treated the victim. The Crime Branch recorded statements from a total of 22 school staff members, including those from the nursing department, IT department, administration department, assistant staff department (nannies), and teachers.

Additionally, a statement from a 60-year-old female neighbour of the complainant was also recorded. The victim’s statement was recorded in front of her mother, and both the mother’s and the daughter’s statements were recorded before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Mazgaon.

After a medical examination was performed at Cooper Hospital in Juhu, the report and the victim’s clothes were sent to the Kalina laboratory. The laboratory’s report stated that ‘neither blood nor semen was detected.’

The investigation report also claimed that the complainant provided a different statement each time she was interviewed. When police asked her to present the girl before the Child Welfare Committee, she did not do so.

According to the victim’s mother, the incident occurred in the washroom of the sick bay. However, the Crime Branch reviewed CCTV footage and found no evidence of the girl arriving at the sick bay on that day. Police reviewed the entire day’s footage and found no objectionable incidents involving the girl until her mother picked her up.

The report claimed that the complainant held a grudge against a male music teacher. The CCTV footage revealed that the victim was not seen with the music teacher at any time on February 12. That day, at 6 pm, the complainant safely took her daughter home via an auto rickshaw. The investigation was conducted by Manohar Avhad, Senior Police Inspector of the Crime Branch Unit-11.

Crime

Fake social media account, Chat GPT used in Ketan Agarwal murder

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Pune, Sep 20: A fake account on social media platform Instagram, along with ChatGPT and murder films, was used by Siya Goyal and her co-accused in the alleged murder of her fiance Ketan Agarwal, reveals the charge sheet filed by the police in the sensational case.

The 5,053-page charge sheet, filed on Saturday, detailed the alleged conspiracy behind the death of the 26-year-old businessman at Lohagad Fort in Pune in June, NDTV reported.

Agarwal was allegedly pushed off the fort on June 18 by his fiancee Siya Goyal, who was assisted by her purported lover Chetan Chaudhary, and another accused, identified as Ritesh Hange. All three have been arrested by the police.

According to the charge sheet, the accused had initially discussed seriously injuring Agarwal and even explored the possibility of hiring someone from outside Maharashtra to carry out the attack.

Police claimed the plan was later dropped because they feared the hired assailant could expose the conspiracy or create problems for them. Investigators have mentioned that a person contacted during this stage has since become a witness, the media report said.

As per the charge sheet, the accused subsequently decided to kill Agarwal themselves and watched murder films and used ChatGPT for the purpose. They also listened to podcasts on how to avoid detection by police as part of their preparations.

Goyal and her co-accused also researched last year’s Meghalaya honeymoon murder case where Indore resident Raja Raghuvanshi was allegedly killed by his wife, Sonam, during the couple’s honeymoon in the state’s East Khasi Hills district.

Moreover, investigators stated that a fake Instagram account named ‘Mahi’ was created using the photograph of a woman known to the accused in order to “lure” Agarwal to the fort.

Subsequently, messages from the account encouraged the victim to visit the spot on June 18 for a surprise birthday plan for Goyal.

According to the chargesheet, the fake account was part of a plan devised by Ritesh Hange to bring Agarwal to the fort. The account was deleted after the incident.

Further, the charge sheet also revealed that the accused conducted a recce of locations around Lonavala before selecting Lohagad Fort.

According to investigators, Goyal and Chaudhary visited Tiger Point and other locations in search of an isolated spot.

Police said that Lohagad was eventually selected because of a death at the fort in March last year. The accused thought they could make Agarwal’s death appear like an accidental fall at the spot.

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Crime

47.3 kg heroin seized in Punjab, four held

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Chandigarh, Sep 20: In a major breakthrough, Punjab Police on Sunday said it had busted a cross-border heroin smuggling network by apprehending four operatives and recovering 47.3 kg of heroin, three pistols, three magazines, 15 cartridges, and two vehicles.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused are linked to a network involved in cross-border smuggling of heroin and illegal arms into Punjab, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav wrote on X.

He said the first investigation report (FIR) was registered in Faridkot.

Further investigation is underway to uncover the wider network and establish its linkages.

A day earlier, Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar busted another cross-border narcotics smuggling module with the arrest of three key operatives and recovered 17 kg of heroin from their possession. Police had identified the arrested as Prince, Malkit Singh, and Rajinder Singh, all residents of Kot Mit Singh in Amritsar.

Apart from the heroin, police teams also impounded a car used for transporting the contraband.

With this seizure on Saturday, CI Amritsar has pushed the total recovery of heroin to 54 kg in four days, having previously recovered consignments of 27 kg and 10 kg.

DGP Yadav said CI Amritsar teams had received specific input that three operatives of the smuggling module had received a drone-dropped consignment and were expected to strike a major drug deal beneath the flyover on the Amritsar-Tarn Taran road. Acting promptly, police established a checkpoint and intercepted their car near the park by the flyover. During the search, 17 kg of heroin was recovered.

On September 16, four persons were held with 27 kg of heroin and a foreign-made .30 bore PX5 pistol with three cartridges. On September 18, one person was held with 10 kg of heroin.

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Crime

Delhi Police trace minor girl after 8 years, recover her from Bihar

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New Delhi, Sep 20: The Delhi Police have solved a long-pending missing-person case after the minor was found in Bihar after eight years of sustained efforts, officials said on Sunday.

The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of Delhi Police’s Central District successfully traced and recovered the minor girl from Bihar, bringing an end to a long-pending case registered at Anand Parbat police station.

The case dates back to October 14, 2018, when an FIR was registered at PS Anand Parbat in connection with the alleged missing and kidnapping of a minor girl, who was then 14 years old and a resident of the national capital’s Anand Parbat area.

Following the registration of the case, sustained efforts were made by the police to trace the missing girl and ascertain her whereabouts. During the course of the investigation and search operations, the AHTU team examined footage from multiple CCTV cameras and conducted extensive searches at around 90 shelter homes for girls, 52 orphanages, religious places, and red-light areas across Delhi-NCR.

Despite the extensive searches and multiple efforts undertaken over the years, the whereabouts of the missing girl could not initially be established. The AHTU team, however, continued to pursue available leads and kept working on the long-pending case.

A few months ago, the team received a crucial secret input indicating that the missing girl might be present in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur. Acting promptly on the information, a dedicated team was constituted to trace and recover her.

The team comprised Sub-Inspector Raj Bahadur Singh, Head Constable Surender and Woman Constable Manisha. The team worked under the supervision of Inspector Anil Yadav, In-charge of AHTU, with overall supervision by the ACP, DIU.

Following the development of the lead, the police team immediately travelled to Kanpur and conducted searches at the location indicated by the source. However, upon reaching the spot, the team learnt that the missing girl had been moved from the location shortly before their arrival.

The police team did not abandon the search and continued checking the surrounding areas while developing additional local sources in an effort to trace her whereabouts. Despite these efforts, no immediate clue could be established at that stage.

The team continued to follow the lead and subsequently received information suggesting that the missing girl might be residing in Bihar’s Samastipur district. Acting on the newly developed information, the AHTU team proceeded to Samastipur on September 15.

Through sustained technical surveillance, field verification and persistent ground-level efforts, the team was able to narrow down the location of the missing girl to Shahpur Patori.

The police team subsequently conducted a search operation in the area and successfully located and recovered the missing girl from Patori with the assistance of the local police.

Following her recovery, the girl was brought back to Delhi on September 17 and produced for medical examination. She was subsequently counselled, and her statement was recorded under Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

After completion of the requisite legal and procedural formalities, the recovered girl was handed over to her parents, facilitating her reunion with her family after eight years.

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