Mumbai: Gangster DK Rao and 6 others accused of demanding ₹2.5 crore extortion from hotel owner, all arrested.

The Anti-Extortion Cell of Mumbai Crime Branch received a complaint from a hotel owner, in which he made serious allegations. According to the complaint, notorious gangster DK Rao and his six associates conspired and tried to take over the hotel. Apart from this, they demanded ₹2.5 crore extortion from the hotel owner and threatened to kill him if their demand was not met.

Taking this matter seriously, the Anti-Extortion Cell of Mumbai Crime Branch took immediate action. Based on the information and evidence provided by the hotel owner, an FIR was registered against the accused under the relevant sections of the Indian Justice Code.

After interrogation and investigation, the police have arrested gangster DK Rao and his six other associates. All these accused are now in police custody. According to police officials, other aspects related to this conspiracy are being thoroughly investigated from the accused.

DCP Datta Nalawade said that the case is part of the ongoing police action against organised crime and extortion in the city. He said that the police will complete all evidence and legal procedures to ensure strict punishment to the culprits in such cases.

At present, the case is being investigated in depth and the police are trying to ensure that the hotel owner and other victims get justice.

Actor Threaten By Email From Pakistan: Three big artists of Mumbai have received threats. Sources said that these threats have been received by Rajpal Yadav, Remo D’Souza and Sugandha Mishra. Regarding this, Mumbai Police has registered an FIR on the complaint of Rajpal Yadav and NC on the complaint of Sugandha Mishra, while they have also received a complaint from Remo.

Sources claimed that the emailer had written “BISHNU” (not Bishnoi) at the end of the email. It is being claimed that initial investigation revealed that the emailer had sent the email from Pakistan. Further investigation is going on in this matter.

The email reads – We have been monitoring your recent activities, and we believe it is imperative that we bring a sensitive matter to your attention. This is not a publicity stunt or an attempt to harass you. We urge you to treat this message with utmost seriousness and confidentiality. Failure to do so may result in serious consequences that may affect your professional and personal life. We expect a prompt response from you within the next 8 hours. If we don’t get a response, we will assume that you are not taking the matter seriously, and we will take the necessary action. Vishnu

New Delhi, Jan 22: The Supreme Court on Wednesday fixed January 29 for hearing the matter where it has taken suo moto cognisance of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in August 2024.

“We will take it up at 2 pm next Wednesday (January 29),” said a bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan as it deferred the hearing due to paucity of time.

The CJI Khanna-led Bench asked senior advocate Karuna Nundy, representing the associations of medical professionals, to provide a copy of interlocutory applications filed to the other side.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has approached the Calcutta High Court, challenging the verdict of a Kolkata special court awarding life imprisonment to Sanjay Roy, the sole accused and the convict in the rape and murder case of the woman doctor.

As the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday morning before a division bench of Justices Debangshu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi, the CBI challenged the petition filed by the state government and questioned the grounds on which it could make such an appeal.

Deputy Solicitor General, Rajdeep Majumdar, argued that it was only the CBI, which is the investigating agency in the case, and the victim’s parents who could move such a plea at a higher court, and not the state government, which is not a party in the case.

To support his contention, Majumdar referred to a case filed by the CBI against former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, where the state government’s plea was not considered by the Patna High Court.

Whether the West Bengal government’s petition will be admissible or not will be decided by the Calcutta High Court on January 27.

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the Bengal government would move the Calcutta High Court challenging the quantum of the sentence and the state government would be seeking the death penalty for the convict.

“I am convinced that it is indeed a rarest of rare cases which demands capital punishment. We want to insist upon the death penalty in this most sinister and sensitive case,” the Chief Minister said.

While pronouncing the quantum of the sentence, special court judge Anirban Das said that the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) contention that Roy’s offence in the matter was “the rarest and rare crimes” was not tenable.

Hence, the judge observed that instead of the “death penalty”, Roy, an erstwhile civic volunteer attached to Kolkata Police, be sentenced to “life imprisonment”. Apart from that a fine of Rs 50,000 was also imposed on Roy.

The special court, at the same time, directed the West Bengal government to pay a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased victim.

It observed that since the victim was raped and murdered at her workplace, which is a state-government entity, the West Bengal government is legally bound to pay compensation to the victim’s family.

In an earlier hearing held in November 2024, the Supreme Court had remarked that it would not pass any direction to transfer the trial of the ghastly rape and murder case outside West Bengal.

A bench, headed by then CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, turned down the oral prayer made by a lawyer seeking transfer of trial outside West Bengal.

“Yes, we have transferred cases (of gender violence) in Manipur. But we are not doing anything like that here,” it had remarked.

The apex court had noted that the trial would commence on November 11 at a special court in Kolkata after charges were framed against the “sole prime accused” in the case, Sanjay Roy.

The process of the framing of charges was completed on November 4, exactly 87 days after the body of the woman junior doctor was discovered at a seminar hall within the state-run R.G. Kar premises on the morning of August 9, 2024.

In October, the CBI filed its first charge sheet against Roy, a civic volunteer with Kolkata Police, in the alleged rape and murder case.

In the charge sheet, the CBI did not rule out the possibilities of a larger conspiracy behind the macabre crime that prompted alleged events of tampering and altering of evidence during the initial phase of the investigation which was carried out by Kolkata Police.

Besides Roy, two others arrested by the CBI officials in the matter are RG Kar Medical College and Hospital’s former Principal, Sandip Ghosh, and the former SHO of Tala Police Station, Abhijit Mondal. RG Kar comes under the jurisdiction of Tala Police Station.

The main charges against Ghosh and Mondal are for misleading the investigation when the Kolkata Police were probing the matter before it was handed over to CBI by the Calcutta High Court.

Both have been accused of tampering with evidence in the case. Taking suo moto cognisance of the rape and murder case of the junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, the Supreme Court had termed the incident “horrific,” which raises the “systemic issue of safety of doctors across the country”.

“We are deeply concerned about the fact that there is an absence of safe conditions of work for young doctors across the country, particularly, public hospitals,” it had said.

The apex court had ordered the formation of the NTF (National Task Force) to suggest measures for the security of medical professionals across the country, observing that the safety of doctors is the “highest national concern”.