1. Woman Raped by 3 in Separate Incidents Within 2 Hours in Navi Mumbai: Cops
A 19-year-old woman was allegedly raped by three men in two separate incidents within a span of two hours on the night of 19 February in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, police said on Wednesday, 26 February.
All the three accused, including an autorickshaw driver, have been arrested. Narrating the sequence of events, a Rabale MIDC police station officer said that the victim had failed to board a train at suburban Ghatkopar on 18 February while she was with her relatives. The woman then boarded another train and reached Mumbra railway station in Thane district on 18 February night and slept at the station, he said.
The accused were arrested on the basis of the description given by the victim. The trio were remanded in police custody till 29 February.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Five Workers at CNG Station Beat 68-Yr-Old Auto Driver to Death Over Change Money
A 68-year-old autorickshaw driver was allegedly beaten to death on Tuesday evening by five employees of a CNG station after they got into an argument over change money.
The deceased was identified as Ramdular Yadav.
According to the police, Yadav went to the station at 5 pm to fill his vehicle and pointed out to the station operator that he had returned him Rs 5 less as change.
Police said an argument broke out after the station operator disagreed and soon his colleagues also joined him. The five men surrounded Yadav and hit him repeatedly, they added.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. Pune Cooperative Bank Fraud: NCP Leader Anil Bhosale, Three Others Arrested
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Pune city police late on Tuesday, 25 February, night arrested Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Member of Legislative Council of Maharashtra Anil Bhosale and three others in connection with an alleged fraud of Rs 71 crore in a cooperative bank headquartered in the city.
EOW officials arrested Bhosale along with senior bank office bearers Tanaji Padwal and SV Jadhav and Chief Accountant Shailesh Bhosale. The four arrested persons were scheduled to be produced before a court in Pune on Wednesday.
An offence was registered against Bhosale, his wife and 14 others in the second week of January for allegedly under-reporting transactions worth Rs 71.78 crore by forging the records of Shivajirao Bhosale Cooperative Bank Ltd.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. Three-Year-Old Girl Sexually Assaulted at Preschool in Punjab
The husband of a private preschool principal was arrested on Wednesday, 26 February, for allegedly sexually assaulting a three-year-old student at least twice over a period of four months in Zirakpur. The 38-year-old accused teaches mathematics in a private school in Banur, and often visited the Zirakpur preschool, which is operating from a house, to oversee administrative works and ongoing renovations, said police.
The girl had complained to her parents four months back too, but they did not take up the matter further after assurances from the principal, said police.
The latest incident came to light on Wednesday morning, when the girl while being bathed by her mother told her that the accused had disrobed her in the school. The family then approached police and the childline was informed.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
5. Pune Man Held for ‘Threatening to Bomb Hospital’
The cyber police station of Pune City Police on Wednesday, 26 February, arrested a 31-year-old man, who they said holds a postgraduate degree in physics, for allegedly threatening to bomb Noble Hospital in Hadapsar if it did not pay him Rs 19 lakh.
Police have identified the accused as Pravin Hirachan Kumbhar, a resident of Bhekrai Nagar in Hadapsar. They said Noble Hospital had received three emails on 29 January, 31 January and 7 February. In the emails, the sender had demanded Rs 10 lakh and threatened to bomb the hospital using 500 gm of explosives if his demand was not met.
Dr Girish Bhosale had lodged the first information report (FIR) on 7 February, after which investigators began probing the email address allegedly used by the accused. A probe revealed that the accused allegedly logged into the email address while moving around different locations in Maharashtra and Goa, using open Wi-Fi networks.
(Source: The Indian Express)
6. Three Cheated of Rs 3.2 Lakh After Cybercriminals Hack Email
Three people, including a man from England, were cheated of Rs 3.2 lakh after they received an email from a 78-year-old Nerul resident, inviting them to his wedding anniversary party. What the trio did not know was that the man’s account was hacked.
Vinodkumar Punshi, 78, runs an NGO in Navi Mumbai. As the family was celebrating New Year’s Eve recently at a Lonavla resort, his son Sidharth received an email from Punshi’s old hotmail ID. Punshi had stopped using the account since 2016 when it was hacked.
The email opened with a greeting from Istanbul, Turkey, described - with the names of Punshi’s family members - that they are on an “European tour on a boat cruise”. The mail listed Punshi’s Nerul apartment’s address and sent an invitation to join them on 22 February for his wedding “golden jubilee”.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Minor Immolates Self Citing Rape; Three Held
A 14-year-old girl died of severe burn injuries on Wednesday, 26 February, after she immolated herself, alleging rape and harassment by three persons in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district, police said.
The police have arrested all three accused, an official said.
The Class 8 student poured kerosene and immolated herself at her home in Devgaon village on Tuesday evening and died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Nagpur, additional superintendent of police (ASP) Shraddha Joshi said.
The girl suffered 90 percent burns and was first taken to the district hospital, from where she was referred to a hospital in Maharashtra's Nagpur city, Joshi said.
In her statement, the victim had named three persons accusing them of raping and harassing her, the senior official said.
(Source: PTI)
8. Five Eatery Owners Arrested for Employing Minors
Six boys aged 13 to 16 were rescued from various shops in Turbhe and Vashi on Tuesday in an operation to clamp down on child labour in Navi Mumbai. The anti-human trafficking unit (AHTU) arrested five employers.
Most children were found working long hours for Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 a month.
“We received information that minor children were working in shops. This flouts the Juvenile Justice Act. We raided five small-time shops along with the labour officer and rescued the boys, who were working in kitchens,” said Sunita Bhoir, assistant inspector at the AHTU.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
9. 79 Arrested in RPF's Crack-Down on Illegal E-Ticket Rackets
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has busted countrywide illegal e-ticket booking rackets and arrested 79 persons, a top official said on Wednesday, 26 February.
It has also identified 16,735 user IDs, through which tickets were booked illegally, for blacklisting besides blocking 27,948 tickets worth Rs 7.96 crore for upcoming journeys, said Arun Kumar, director-general of the RPF.
ANMS and MAC, the illegal softwares which the racketeers used for booking e-tickets fraudulently by getting around One Time Password (OTP) and CAPTCHA systems, were completely "neutralized" by RPF sleuths, he said.
"Tickets valued around Rs 30 crore, which were already used by passengers, were also seized," he said. The racket existed since 2012 but became more active in the last two or three years, Kumar said.
(Source: PTI)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)