BPO staffer rapes DU girl, films it

NEW DELHI: A 21-year old Delhi University student was allegedly drugged, raped and filmed naked by a BPO employee who used the video clip to rape her again. The traumatized victim tried to kill herself last Friday and is currently recuperating in hospital.

Police said the accused, Harish alias Chirag, 25, had met the victim at a mobile accessories store on October 16. On October 22, he called her to a mall in Rohini and gave her a drink laced with sedatives.

Harish then took the drowsy girl to a room he had rented near the mall and raped her, the cops said. He also made a video clip of her, the victim alleged in her FIR.

He met the victim on November 14 and allegedly raped her again. Four days later, the brutalized girl consumed insecticide in a bid to kill herself.

In hospital, she narrated her story to an NGO volunteer, who in turn informed the cops. "We registered a case of rape and booked the accused in other appropriate sections after the victim gave a statement. The matter is being further investigated," said B S Jaiswal, DCP (Outer).

The cops had earlier received a call about an attempt to suicide case and reached the hospital. After learning about the case, the cops nabbed the accused and produced him before the court.

The accused has been arrested but the video hasn't yet been found. Police recovered from him a sex clip of another woman who they believe is another of Harish's victims.

READ MORE - BPO staffer rapes DU girl, films it

Actress arrested in sex racket charged Rs 1.5l per hour

Pune, Nov 22 : Cops say television artiste and agent used to regularly visit five-star hotel from where they were arrested.
Small-time silver screen actress who was arrested in a raid on Saturday night, for allegedly running a high-profile sex racket in a multi star hotel, was sent to magisterial custody yesterday.

Twenty-one-year-old Azhara Jan Gulam Ahmed Sheikh alias Zara, a native of Kashmir, has been arrested along with film industry spot boy Niraj Ashok Badhani (27), an alleged pimp, under Sections 4, 5, 8 of Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act, (PITA) 1986.


Racket busted: A video grab of television actress Azhara Jan Gulam
Ahmed Sheikh alias Zara; spot boy Niraj Ashok Badhani is
produced in court yesterday. pic/krunal gosavi
The case has been registered with the Bundgarden police station and Badhani has been remanded in police custody till November 23. When both were produced before the holiday court, public prosecutor argued in favour of Zara's police custody, stating that it was essential to probe if there were conspirators in the racket.

Public prosecutor also argued that the investigating agency should verify her call details. The demand by prosecution was however rejected and Zara was sent to magisterial custody. Badhani however, has been remanded in police custody.

Acting on a tip-off to constable Ashok Takalkar, the social security cell of crime branch led by inspector Bhanupratap Barge laid a trap through a decoy and nabbed them at a five-star hotel on Raja Bahadur Mill Road.

According to the police, Badhani, who allegedly works as Zara's agent, had come to the city in a rented car and checked into a room following which they were arrested.

According to Barge, the actress charged Rs 1.5 lakh per hour from customers. The hotel register revealed that she had visited the place often with Badhani. Zara told the police that she has acted in several TV serials including Kasauti Zindagi Ki and also played a role in the Hindi film, Lamha.

What PITA says
Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act, 1986
Section 4: Punishment for living on the earnings of prostitution
Section 5: Procuring inducing or taking person for the prostitution
Section 8: Seducing and soliciting for prostitution

READ MORE - Actress arrested in sex racket charged Rs 1.5l per hour

Drug peddlers in post-haste mode ahead of year-end revelry

India: Dope sellers using services of postal department and courier companies to smuggle contraband in and out of the city and the country

Christmas and New Year festivities are still a fair distance away. But drug dealers in the city are already pulling up their socks. And they are increasingly using the services of the postal department and courier companies to smuggle their products to meet the growing demand.


Part and parcel! Postal department officials found 15 kg of drugs,
mostly heroin, inside this parcel in mid-September. pic/MiD DAY

After a successful operation where significant amount of contraband was recovered by the Foreign Post Office (FPO) and customs officials recently, a member of the team revealed to MiD DAY the current trend and modus operandi of peddlers. "During this time every year, the movement of contraband increases. So we have to be really alert. A carbon film is generally used around the place where drugs are kept in the parcel.




Postal department also found drugs concealed inside this lipstick
container and a lehenga recently.

This helps the parcel pass through scanners successfully. Since the quantity of inbound and outbound parcel is huge, technically it's not possible to check each and every one of them manually," said the FPO official, on condition anonymity.

Big haul
"For instance, around 15 kg of drugs, mostly heroin, were recovered from a parcel addressed to New South Wales in Australia in mid-September. Every month we get five to six such cases. But the number doubles during November-December," the official said.

Though not ready to reveal the techniques used by them to identify fishy parcels, officials said that they very carefully observe the writing pattern on envelopes and the destinations to which they are being sent. "Canada, Netherlands, US, Spain and Australia are the hubs where most of these parcels are dispatched. In almost 70-80 per cent cases, our suspicions are accurate," he added.

All international parcels sent from north India pass through FPO in Delhi and the post office has found most of these parcels originating from Delhi, NCR and Punjab. Over a period of two years, over 200 parcels that were being smuggled to international locations were caught during manual checking by FPO and customs officials. In the past FPO has also detected seven to eight cases of ketamine smuggling, which was hidden in tea bags.
A customs official said that most of the cases have been of heroin smuggling, which costs around Rs 1 crore per kilogram. Apart from heroin, charas and cocaine is also shipped in large quantities. 

Investigators have advised courier companies and postal department to check the contents of suspect consignments before accepting them for delivery or handing them over to receivers. "Courier companies should accept packages of only those senders who are willing to provide photo ids as proof," said the official.

Hidden agenda
According to a global report, the use of courier services for drug trafficking in India is on the rise and the country is increasingly being used as a major transit as well as destination country for smuggling of banned substances. A Delhi police official said, "With late night parties and celebrations lined up for Christmas and New Year, drug peddlers enjoy brisk business during the year end. 

During New Year celebrations, illegal trade of narcotics increases manifold. Both LSD and ecstasy are used at rave parties and are very popular with the youth. Other forms of drugs such as heroin, cocaine and charas are also imported from other countries and widely used at high-profile parties. Like every year, strict vigil will be kept in the entire city." Selling and consuming narcotic substances such as cannabis, cocaine, ketamine, opium and brown sugar are banned under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

High and low
Different date-rape drugs and their effects:
>> Gamma hydroxybutyrate or GHB, as it's popularly known, is a common date-rape drug. It's usually added to open-container drinks. It is given to partygoers in hopes of lowering their inhibitions and facilitating a potential sexual conquest for the assailant
>> Rohypnol can be dissolved in a beverage and is undetectable. If combined with alcohol, it can induce a blackout and cause a memory loss for 8 hours to 24 hours. The drug takes effect after around 10 minutes of consumption. Victims may feel dizzy and disoriented, and some become nauseated
>> Ketamine can either be injected or mixed with drinks. It is also known as Special K, K, Vitamin K or Cat Valiums. At high doses, ketamine can cause delirium, amnesia, impaired motor function, high blood pressure, depression, and potentially fatal respiratory problems. Low-dose intoxication from ketamine results in impaired attention, learning ability, and memory

Powder play
Recently an international drug racket was busted in Delhi's south district with the arrest of two Nigerian nationals. The duo was involved in smuggling and supply of cocaine in five-star hotels and pubs and were found in possession of 70.5 gms of fine quality cocaine worth more than a crore. Police had also revealed that cocaine was also supplied some guests and visitors during the Formula One Grand Prix in Greater Noida.

READ MORE - Drug peddlers in post-haste mode ahead of year-end revelry

CBI on Facebook to crack murder case

With no headway after a two-month probe into the killing of RTI activist Shehla Masood, the investigating agency is seeking your help.

If you happen to find a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official surfing on Facebook, don't just assume that he's goofing off. The country's top investigating agency is the latest in line to befriend the social networking trend. To bridge the gap between the police and public, Bhopal wing of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has opened a page on Facebook.


Whodunnit: An April 9 Facebook photo of Shehla Masood (centre) in
Bhopal, during Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign.

More importantly, it has kicked off with one of the most talked about cases at present, the Shehla Masood murder case. The probe is being handled by CBI Delhi. Initiated by Bhopal Deputy-Inspector General (DIG) Hemant Priyadarshy, the Facebook page is by the name of CBI Bhopal. Speaking to MiD DAY, Priyadarshy said, "We started it with the intention to share our investigation and get any information that could help in the probe."


Eternal flame: Shehla leading an anti-corruption march in Bhopal earlier
this year.

'It's a start'
"Even though we didn't get the response we had hoped for in this particular case, we will carry on with the page as we strongly believe it will help us and the people in the future," he said. He added the page was a bridge of communication between the people and the CBI. The 32-year-old RTI activist, Masood, was shot dead in broad daylight in front of her house on August 16 in Bhopal. CBI had taken over the case three weeks after the murder, and it was transferred to the Delhi team nearly a week ago.

Still searching
The team comprising Joint Director Keshav Kumar and DIG Arun Bosra took charge of the probe. Masood was killed by an unidentified person in front of her residence in the posh Koh-e-Fiza locality. Regarding the transfer of the case, Priyadasrhy said, "We have informed the officers who took the charge after us about the CBI Facebook page."

Ever since the probe began names of many influential political personalities have surfaced. No one, however, has been questioned as yet. The agency is also facing difficulties in finding an eyewitness to the murder, which might have prompted the officers to take patronage of the social networking websites.

The silenced activist
Masood worked primarily on wildlife conservation and also supported other causes such as good governance, RTI Act, police reforms, environment, women's rights, transparency and sexual minorities' rights. She had recently sat on a fast in support of Anna Hazare's India Against Corruption campaign. She was actively involved in raising issues related to the death of tigers in various sanctuaries of Madhya Pradesh. She was about to leave for Boat Club in Bhopal to join an anti-government protest when her life was cut short. 

So far
CBI is yet to get a breakthrough in the case. They haven't been able to trace the weapon used till now. CBI's Bhopal unit had been looking into the case since the first week of September and had even announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for anyone giving information leading to the arrest of the assailant(s).

READ MORE - CBI on Facebook to crack murder case

Rape rises fastest among major crimes

Incidents of rape in the country have increased by a staggering 792% over the past nearly 40 years. This eight-fold increase is way ahead of other serious crime like murder, which increased by 106% robbery (27%) and kidnapping (298%). In fact the rise in rape stands out as the most steep compared to all cognizable crimes, which grew at 134% since 1971.

This shocking trend emerges from a comparison of the recently released crime data maintained by the National Crime Records Bureau with data from earlier years. Although NCRB maintains crime statistics since 1953, rape statistics are being collected only since 1971.

Experts believe that while some of this jaw-dropping rise could be explained by increased reporting as awareness has grown among victims and families, the scale of increase undoubtedly reflects increasing violence against women in society. Maintaining a trend which has existed for several years, almost 97% of the rapes were committed by persons known to the victim with about 7% committed by family members and 35% by neighbours.

In a worrying trend disposal of cases by the police and the courts is worsening over the years. In 1972 (the first year for which disposal data is available), the police investigated and charge sheeted 71% of rape cases brought before it but in 2010 they could manage only 64% disposal. Shockingly, the courts were able to decide upon only 16% of rape cases in 2010 - half the rate forty years ago. Conviction rates have dipped from 41% in 1971 to a meager 27% in 2010.

Activists believe that the tide of growing rape cases was not being diligently handled by the investigating agencies. This could in fact be contributing to increasing incidence as the deterrent effect was seen to be weak. Several women's organizations have been demanding changes in rape laws to widen its definition.

READ MORE - Rape rises fastest among major crimes

Paternity test for 13-yr-old rape suspect

After MiD DAY reported inaction of authorities in the case of 13-year-old who was raped and impregnated, officials from Women and Child Welfare Department say DNA of foetus would be crossmatched with teen boy suspected of raping victim to ascertain if he fathered child

AFTER MiD DAY pointed out last week that no action had been taken after the rape and impregnation of a 13-year-old girl at the Vidyavati Ashram in Kamshet surfaced, District Women And Child Welfare Officer Suvarna Pawar said yesterday that a non-cognizable offence would be registered against the trustees of the orphanage. 


All's not well: Authorities say medical tests will be conducted on all the
children in the orphanage to find out if anyone else was abused

Varsha Gaikwad, minister in Women And Child Welfare department, assured MiD DAY that the DNA of the fetus would be crossmatched with that of the 13-year-old boy who is suspected of raping the teen girl. This would confirm if the baby is fathered by the suspect or the girl's pregnancy was a result of abuse by some adult person.

Officials from the Women and Child Development Department (DWCD) announced the constitution of an inquiry committee comprising a gynaecologist, a child right activist, two members of an NGO and members from the Child Welfare Committee.

In the meantime, all children, including 19 boys and 26 girls, would be shifted to other children homes till the situation at the ashram is back to normal. "I have instructed all my officers that medical test be conducted on all children to affirm if they too were abused," said Gaikwad.

It has been noted that the Vidyavati Ashram in Kamshet is guilty of serious violation, as its licence had expired in 2010, said officials from the DWCD. An officer from the District Women and Child Welfare Department said the ashram had put up a file for renewal. More importantly, there were only two home mothers and one superintendent to take care of more than 50 children, including the 13-year-old rape victim.

United Nations Health Task Force Representative for South Asia Dr Yamini Adbe paid a visit to the orphanage and said the records were poorly maintained. The staff members told her that all children were aware that the 13-year-old resident had missed her periods. "This revelation by the staff members is enough to show that 50 children were exposed to disturbing environment," said Dr Adbe.

READ MORE - Paternity test for 13-yr-old rape suspect