CRIME xx : Crime Reports

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Woman burnt alive for dowry

Muzaffarnagar, Jan 7 (PTI) A woman was allegedly burnt alive by her husband and in-laws over dowry at Janipur village here in the district, police said today.

Shushma, who was married a year back, was burnt by her husband Pankaj and her in-laws yesterday. She was later rushed to a hospital where she was declared dead.

A complaint was filed yesterday by the victim's mother Ram Dayee alleging that her son-in-law Pankaj and his family members had been demanding dowry.

The body of the victim has been sent for postmortem, police said.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Citi fraud: Siphoned funds may have gone into stocks

New Delhi: Shivraj Puri, Relationship Manager in Citibank, who is alleged to be at the centre of a Rs 200-crore scam, diverted large sums of money collected from high net worth individual and corporate clients into accounts opened by him with several brokerage firms such as Religare Securities and Bonanza Portfolio.

The police said Puri and his family was not traceable and that his residence in Hamilton Court was locked. S S Deswal, Gurgaon Commissioner of Police said, "We have released a look-out notice to prevent him from leaving the country and have notified immigration authorities." Money was siphoned in the second stage to certain accounts in broker firms, Bonanza Portfolio and Religare Securities, he said.
Instead of investing the moneys of clients directly into the account of brokerage firms, Puri is alleged to have diverted them to the accounts of his relatives who had opened accounts in these firms. Two brokerage firms Bonanza and Religare, on Wednesday issued statements stating Shivraj Puri was their client. "A certain Shivraj Puri whose name appears in press reports as an accused has a personal broking account with one of our branches. In the light of the recent developments, we have frozen the related accounts and suspended all transactions," Bonanza Portfolio said in its statement.
Religare Securities, a brokerage arm of Religare Enterprise, said Puri was a client with its broking business in his individual capacity since June 2009 and all KYC formalities and other due diligence was undertaken before the account was opened. "We have no knowledge of the details of this alleged scam," Religare said, adding it will cooperate and furnish all information, as and when required by investigating authorities.

Preliminary investigation by the police has revealed transactions between Puri's accounts and 60 other accounts with eight banks -- Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, IDBI Bank, Axis Bank, ABN Amro and Standard Chartered. Sources in the police said they were probing if these accounts were genuine or created by Puri. None of the victims of the alleged scam have so far registered a complaint.
Eight of the 18 bank accounts at Citibank's Gurgaon branch belong to a Mumbai-based company, Norman Martin Private Limited, a division of Normans Martin Brokers Pvt. Ltd. This company, according to its website, provides technical research to companies on a wide range of financial services.
The FIR registered by the Gurgaon police on December 27 -- based on a complaint by Binu Soman, AVP, Citibank -- states that big-ticket transactions were noticed from a joint account (5011666247) that Puri opened in September 2009 with close relatives Premnath, Shaila Premnath and Diksha Puri as account holders. The bank's internal probe, the FIR said, revealed that funds were transferred from this account to a firm, G2S Management Consultants and also to a clutch of other accounts.
Citibank itself initiated a probe after receiving information that Puri had got some of the bank's high networth clients to invest in a special scheme that offered unusually high returns.
Source: The Indian Express

Man arrested for 'raping' daughter

Mumbai, Dec 30 (PTI) A 55-year-old man was today arrested for allegedly raping his minor daughter, police said.

Mukhtar Essa Siddiqui, who is unemployed, sexually assaulted the 17-year-old, a Class X student, at his residence at Bhoiwada in central Mumbai, they said.

Siddiqui's wife tried to intervene, but she was threatened by her husband, Senior Inspector V B Patil said, the incident took place on Saturday morning, but a complaint was lodged by the victim's mother today.

Siddiqui was not under the influence of alcohol while committing the crime, Patil said, adding, the victim has four elder brothers.

Friday, December 17, 2010

No hiding place: The amazing scans that show the dangerous lengths to which drug smugglers will go

At first glance it may appear just like a normal body scan - but something is very definitely off.
These extraordinary images of drug mules show the packages of narcotics hidden inside their bodies in astonishingly clear detail.
Computed tomography or CT scans are usually used by doctors to diagnose disease.

Busted: The first of the CT scans shows roughly 20 packages of drugs lodged in a man's colon

Talk your way out of this one: One man took the very easy route of stashing some cocaine packets under his tongue

Bottoms up: This scan, taken from the feet looking up towards the head, clearly shows nine white packets of cocaine

But now the high-tech X-rays are being used as an increasingly effective weapon in the war against drugs.
Mules often swallow carefully wrapped packages of drugs or stuff them in to body cavities to keep them hidden as they smuggle them through airport security and across borders.
And when they are caught, the contraband shows up a lot more clearly on CT scans than they do on ordinary X-rays.

My tummy's feeling funny: This colour-enhanced scan shows drugs packed into the large intestine

Just to be sure: Another view of the man with the cocaine hidden beneath his tongue

Dr Priscilla Flach, a radiologist at the University Hospital in Berne, Switzerland, is the author of a new study comparing the two imaging techniques.
In her colour-enhanced scans of mules caught in Swiss airports and train stations, the drugs packets are eerily suspended inside the body.
In many of the scans, the sheer size and number of the packets is enough to induce an involuntary shudder.
Sometimes the drugs are packaged in specially made containers - but often they are simply packed into condoms.

Sharp as a beach ball: This man complained of abdominal pain... which was unsurprising considering he had 100 packets of cocaine stuffed in there

Room for one more? A mule caught with packets in his colon

Don't put all your eggs in one basket: This man had packets of cocaine under his tongue as well as some hidden in his stomach

Aside from the danger of being caught, mules also face the danger of one of the packets inside them bursting.
Quite often that amount of drugs in their system could prove fatal.
Computed topography scans use digital processing to generate a single three-dimensional image of the inside of an object using a series of two-dimensional X-rays around a single axis of rotation.
It has several advantages over traditional X-rays - one of the most important being the higher level of contrast.
But there are also fears over the level of radiation used in the scans and how it affects the body.
CT scans were first introduced in the 1970s.

Photographs of 180 women who may have been murdered by 'Grim Sleeper' released in desperate search for more victims

Detectives today released 180 photographs of mystery women who could have fallen victim to a suspected serial killer tagged the ‘Grim Sleeper’.
The pictures of the women - many of them snapped in sexually explicit poses - were discovered in the Los Angeles home of 57-year-old Lonnie Franklin, who is accused of murdering ten female victims.
Police do not know the identities of the women in the photographs but are bracing themselves for a flood of calls from the public.

Last resort: The LAPD is hoping to determine if there are more victims of the so-called 'Grim Sleeper', releasing 180 photos found in the possession of suspect Lonnie David Franklin Jnr

Grim discovery: Police found the photos and hundreds of hours of filmed footage after arresting Franklin in July. They are appealing to the public to help identify the women

Grim Sleeper

Frightening number: The pictures, many of them showing scantily clad women, stretch back decades. Detective Dennis Kilcoyne said: 'We do not know what we are going to learn'

Detective Dennis Kilcoyne said: ‘Now that we know who he is and what type of activity he is involved in with women, we are very concerned for everyone in these photographs.

‘We don’t know what we are going to learn.'

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck added: 'These people are not suspects. We don't even know if they are victims. We certainly do not believe that we are so lucky or good that we know all of the victims. We need the public's help.'

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Trial: Lonnie Franklin Jr, 57, is charged with the murder of 10 people and one attempted murder over a 22-year-period

He said that some of the pictures - all cropped to just show faces - are decades old and that some of the women will have aged.

Hundreds of hours of home videos were also discovered at Franklin’s South Los Angeles home following his arrest in July.

The pictures show 160 different women, with some shown more than once. All are black and range from their teens to their 60s. Some are smiling, others appear to be unconscious.

Franklin Jr allegedly committed his crimes over a 22-year period: These pictures show the 11 people he is accused of murdering as well as an unidentified victim who escaped

VICTIMS OF THE 'GRIM SLEEPER'

August 10, 1985: Debra Jackson - A 29-year-old cocktail waitress who went to take a bus home after visiting her friend's house. Her body was found three days later with three gunshot wounds to the chest.

August 12, 1986: Henrietta Wright - The 35-year-old was found dead in an alley near West Vernon Avenue. She was shot twice and wrapped in a blanket and covered in a mattress.

August 14, 1986: Thomas Steele - The only known male victim of the serial killer. The 36-year-old was found with a single gunshot wound to the head in the middle of a street intersection.

January 10, 1987: Barbara Ware - The 23-year-old had been shot once in the chest and her body had been dumped under a pile of rubbish.

April 15, 1987: Bernita Sparks - 26-year-old went out to the shops but never returned. Her body was found in a bin, covered in rubbish. She had been shot, strangled and beaten.

October 31, 1987: Mary Lowe - 26-year-old left home to go to a party, but never returned. Her body was found in an alley of Western Avenue.

January 30, 1988: Lachrica Jefferson - Officers found the 22-year-old's body with a napkin over the face with the word 'AIDS' written on it.

September 11, 1988: Alicia Alexander - Another victim killed while going to the shops. The 18-year-old's body was also found in an alley near Western Avenue.

December 21, 2001: Princess Berthomieux - The end of the 14-year hiatus. DNA on the 14-year-old's body matched those of previous killings.

July 11, 2003: Valerie McCorvey - 35-year-old had been strangled and sexually assaulted.

January 1, 2007: Janecia Peters - 25-year-old was shot in the back and her body was dumped in a rubbish bag.

They were among a stash of more than 1,000 photos of mostly nude or partly-clothed women.

Franklin has pleaded not guilty to the murders of ten women between 1985 and 1988 and from 2002 to 2007.

The 14-year pause in the alleged murders led to the ‘Grim Sleeper’ nickname.

Detectives said they are reopening up to 30 ‘cold cases’ they think could be linked to the retired motor mechanic.

Police have also received 75 calls from relatives and friends of missing women, who were afraid there could be more victims. But after months of trying to identify the women in the photos, detectives took the rare step of releasing them to the public in the hope that they will be recognised by their loved ones.

Officers asked a woman believed to be a survivor of the Grim Sleeper, Enietra Washington, as well as family members of other victims, to view the images before they were released.

They were also shown bracelets, rings, earrings, watches and necklaces - all allegedly discovered in Franklin Jr's home.
Franklin's arrest in July ended a 25-year investigation into the deaths of 11 people.
He was linked to the crime using a new forensic technique known as 'familial' DNA searching, when a sample taken from his son in an unrelated case was found to bear a close resemblance to DNA found on the victims.

Detectives then used a discarded cup with his DNA on it to make the link, according to officials.
The alleged killer was dubbed the 'Grim Sleeper' after a 14-year hiatus between the murders from 1988 and 2002.
The last killing came on January 1, 2007.

A law enforcement official said the gap coincides with a time when Franklin was on disability.
All of the victims were found outdoors, usually in alleyways. They were shot, strangled, or both, usually after some kind of sexual assault.
Ten of the victims were women and several were prostitutes. The only man killed - Thomas Steele - is believed to have been shot in the head in 1987 after discovering the killer's identity.
Ms Washington told police that a man, driving an orange-coloured Pinto, picked her up in November 1988.
She said he shot her in the chest, sexually assaulted her and then photographed her using a Polaroid camera, before pushing her out of the car.

DNA: Officers remove items from the home of Franklin Jr after he was arrested by a SWAT team in Los Angeles

She said: 'That is what woke me up. I remember the flash.
'Some of them [are] in his car and their eyes are closed. Some of them look dead, if you ask me.'
Detective Kilcoyne added: 'Some people will be upset that we are putting their picture in the paper.
'What they need to realise is we are obligated to do this. We aren't the ones who took the picture.'
Franklin's preliminary hearing is due to take place on January 31 and could take as long as three years to complete. He has been held without bail.

Woman gangraped by brothers-in-law at husband's behest

Muzaffarnagar, Dec 17 (PTI) A 21-year-old woman was allegedly gangraped by her two brothers-in-law in Minrapur town here at the behest of her husband, police said today.

The incident occurred yesterday when the woman's husband Shamim, whom she had married in May this year, consented that his two cousin brothers Shakil and Wakil Ahmad rape his wife, they said.

After being raped, the victim was beaten up and thrown out of the house, the police said.

The victim has lodged a complaint with the police in this connection and the SSP has directed them to file a case against Shamim, Shakil and Wakil.

In her complaint, the woman has also alleged that her husband was impotent, the police said.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Teen gang raped in Delhi again

Delhi is clearly an unsafe city for women. Just a few days after an18-year old girl was gangraped in Sultanpuri, another rape case has been reported from capital’s Khichripur area where a teenage girl gang raped here on Wednesday evening.

According to the sources, a fifteen year old girl has been gang raped by Delhi police constable’s son who was accompanied by the son of NDMC staf.

Soon after the incident the Delhi police arrested the culprits.

Earlier, an 18-year-old girl was allegedly abducted and raped in a moving in Sultanpuri area of north-west Delhi late on Saturday.

Two youths-Rama (28) and Chanderpal (23)-allegedly raped her in a secluded locality in Mongolpuri on Saturday night while two others-Manish (25) and a 15-year-old boy-helped them in abducting her.

Few days before Sultanpuri rape case a BPO employee was abducted and gangraped in a vehicle which took place in the early hours of November 24 when the Mizo woman, working in a BPO, was abducted while she was on her way back home.

She was walking towards her residence in Moti village near Dhaula Kuan in South Delhi along with one of her colleagues when the accused kidnapped her, put her in their vehicle and sped off. They later dumped her near Mongolpuri in West Delhi.

MNC employee 'raped' in resort near Lonavla

MUMBAI: An executive of an MNC was allegedly raped in a resort near Lonavla early on Friday.

According to sources, the incident occurred when the executive had gone there for a conference. She was allegedly raped by an employee of the resort. The Paud police have registered a case of rape.

Pratap Dighavakar, SP of Pune (rural), confirmed that a case had been registered but refused to divulge further details.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

'What a lovely job. Still someone's got to do it': Facebook message posted by ex-lover after the axe killings of mother, 43, and her son, 22

A suspected double killer left a bizarre Facebook message just hours after a mother and son were found hacked to death in their own home, it was revealed this morning.
Sally Cox, 43, and her son Martin Faulkner, 22, were found 'dead or dying' at their end of terrace home early yesterday morning.
Mrs Cox's two teenage daughters, Amy, 19, and Katie, 13, ran screaming from the house, in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and raised the alarm. The elder daughter was said to be badly injured.
The girls were apparently heard screaming: 'Call the police. Call the police. Help. He's killing them!'

Attack: Former line dancing coach Michael Kelly, far left, had been in an relationship with Sally Cox until last month

Sally Cox, 43, who was hacked to death in her own home by an axeman who fled leaving the house 'covered with blood'. Her son Martin Faulkner, 19, (right) is pictured here with his girlfriend Melissa Foster

Hours later Mrs Cox's ex-partner Michael Kelly was arrested by armed officers in Swindon, Wiltshire, on suspicion of murder.
In a status update allegedly left on Facebook after the killing took place, suspect Kelly wrote: 'What a lovely job. Still someone's got to do it.'
It is understood Mrs Cox, who worked for delivery company DHL, was in the process of getting divorced from her second husband Anthony, who was not the father of her children, when she was killed.
Her son Martin was thought to have been protecting his mother when he was attacked.

Police activity outside a house in Banbury, as officers investigate a suspected double murder

Ten uniformed officers remained at the scene, along with five detectives and a number of forensic investigators

Split: Michael Kelly, right, walked out on his wife Suzanne and child after meeting Sally Cox

Split: Michael Kelly, right, walked out on his wife Susanne and child after meeting Sally Cox

She had moved in to her rented three-bedroom £125,000 home in Banbury, Oxfordshire, with new boyfriend Michael Kelly, 45, and her three children from her first marriage in January.
The pair met on Facebook while Mr Kelly was still living with wife of 22 years, Susanne, 46, in his home town of Swindon, Wiltshire.
The pair started dating after arranging a first date at a bar in the town and Mr Kelly then walked out on his wife and two young sons last December and he was also in the process of getting divorced.
He has reportedly not been paying child maintenance for his two boys.
After Mr Kelly got together with Mrs Cox they were both regularly swapping messages on Facebook.
Before things soured, he wrote on his page the relationship was 'the best thing that has ever happened 2 me.'
Victor Cox, Mr Kelly's father-in-law, told the Sun: 'He's certainly got a very quick temper. He was breaking things up when he left.'
He added that he has not seen him for more than a year.
Mrs Cox's daughter Amy was last night in an undisclosed hospital with serious injuries sustained in the incident. Social services had been called in to take the siblings to a 'place of safety', where they were due to be told the tragic news of their brother and mother's murder.
Thames Valley Police told a press conference yesterday officers had had no prior contact with the occupants of the house before today's tragedy.
Detective Inspector Steve Duffy said: 'As you can appreciate officers went out this morning and they were faced with a quiet horrific scene.

'There were two people who were obviously dead, or very close to death, at the scene.'
He would not say whether or not the victims had been attacked with an axe but said that a firearm was not used. Officers were still hunting for the murder weapon.

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The bodies were discovered in the Oxfordshire town of Banbury

The bodies were discovered in Banbury, Oxfordshire

Det Insp Duffy said he could not confirm if the suspect was related to the victims but did say that he was recently in a relationship with the female victim.
He added: 'This is a traumatic and horrific incident and what I can say is that while there is a background to this and it is very, very tragic, the wider community is not at risk.
'As far as I am aware there have been no previous calls to this address.
'We believe they had been in a relationship in the last few months but that had broken down.' He said the victims had suffered 'blunt trauma' injuries.
Police said a 45-year-old suspect was arrested two hours after the alarm was raised after he was 'tracked' to an address in Swindon, 55 miles away.
The street where the double murder took place, Mold Crescent, was the scene two years ago of another brutal killing in which a wife was battered to death with a chapatti pan.
In that incident the 30-year-old woman was murdered and body wrapped in a duvet and hidden behind a settee. Her husband, Mohammed Rashid, was jailed for life after walking into a police station and giving himself up.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Techie killed wife, hid body in freezer for two months

Dehradun: The software engineer who allegedly murdered his wife, cut the body into pieces and hid it in a deep freezer for nearly two months, was on Monday sent to four days police remand by a local court.

Rajesh Gulati (37), who hails from Delhi, was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate Amrendra Singh, who sent him to four-day police remand, SSP Dehra Dun G S Mortolia said. The incident came to light on Sunday when Sujan Kumar, brother of the victim Anupama Gulati (33), lodged a complaint with the police after he failed to get a satisfactory answer from the accused about his sister.
After the complaint, police arrested Gulati from his rented accommodation at Prakash Nagar area here, Martolia said, adding that Gulati confessed that he had murdered Anupama on October 17.
The couple used to fight frequently, and, on October 17, Gulati banged Anupama's head against a wall after which she fell unconscious. He then strangulated her in a fit of rage and cut the corpse into pieces later, hiding it in a deep freezer, Martolia said.
The couple have four-year-old twins, who were reportedly told by the accused that their mother had gone to Delhi. Gulati also told Anupama's family that his relations with his wife had improved. However, her brother grew suspicious and came to Dehra Dun on Sunday to inquire about his sister.
The couple had married in 1999 after a long courtship, but their relations turned sour later. They had settled down in Dehra Dun just 18 months back, after they returned from the US.
Meanwhile, the couple's children are in the custody of their maternal uncle, who is taking them to Delhi, police said.
Inspector General of Police, Garhwal, M A Ganapathy said the police would investigate the case under "rare of the rarest cases" and take help of forensic experts.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Mexico forces kill La Familia drugs baron in Michoacan

Mexican federal police officers stand by a burning blockade set up by drug cartel gunmen in the western state of Michoacan

Michoacan state has been racked by two days of violence

Mexican security forces say they have shot dead a notorious drug baron in the western state of Michoacan.

Nazario Moreno Gonzalez - dubbed The Craziest One - was a leader of the drug cartel known as La Familia.
He was killed during fierce fighting between security forces and cartel gunmen near the town of Apatzingan.
La Familia has a reputation for extreme violence but also claims to protect local communities and promote family and religious values.
For two days, hundreds of Mexican police and troops backed by helicopters have been involved in gun battles with drug cartel gunmen across large areas of Michoacan.
At least five police officers and three other suspected cartel members were shot dead.
Three civilians were also killed, including an eight-month-old baby apparently caught in the crossfire.
"Diverse pieces of information obtained during the raid all indicate that Nazario Moreno Gonzalez was killed yesterday," national security spokesman Alejandro Poire said on Friday.
Nazario Moreno is considered the spiritual leader of La Familia cartel, says the BBC's Ignacio de los Reyes in Mexico City.
He was the author of a book known as The Family Bible that was used to train new recruits.
The Mexican government said his death was a severe blow to the cartel.
Burning barricades The upsurge in violence in Michoacan started on Wednesday when police moved into Apatzingan - a stronghold of La Familia - to search for cartel leaders.
Residents described intense fighting, with cartel gunmen exchanging fire with military helicopters.
The violence spread to other parts of Michoacan, with gunmen blockading roads around the state capital Morelia with burning vehicles.
Mr Moreno is the latest high-profile suspected drugs baron to be captured or killed by the Mexican authorities in recent months.
His death will be a boost for President Felipe Calderon - a native of Michoacan - whose determination to tackle the drugs gangs by military means has come under criticism.
More than 30,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Mr Calderon began deploying troops to fight the cartels four years ago.
La Familia Michoacana is involved in cocaine smuggling to the US along Mexico's Pacific coast as well as the production of the synthetic drug, methamphetamine.
In recent months the gang has come under growing pressure from the Mexican authorities, with several suspected leaders captured.
It has also been involved in bloody territorial wars with rival cartels.
The cartel was recently reported to have offered to negotiate a truce with the government and disband.

Street Preacher Found Guilty in Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping

Dec. 10 -- A former street preacher was convicted today of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart, 8 1/2 years after the Utah teen was snatched from her bedroom at knifepoint and forced into nine hellish months of sexual slavery.

A federal jury in Salt Lake City deliberated fewer than five hours over two days before finding Brian David Mitchell, 57, guilty of both counts he faced -- kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines. He faces life in prison.

Mitchell was in the courtroom when the verdict was read, singing a hymn. He could receive life in prison when he is sentenced on May 25.

Smart, now 23, smiled at the guilty verdict and began hugging family members and prosecutors.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Father rapes 16-year-old daughter

London: In a shocking case, a teenage girl in Britain was raped by her father everyday for nearly a month until she became pregnant to provide a child for him and his infertile partner, a media report said.
The Cambridge Crown Court was informed that the girl was just 16 years old when her father sexually abused her for a month for getting a child for his new partner, who became infertile following a hysterectomy, the Daily Mail reported.
The girl, who gave birth to a baby boy in December 2008 and passed him off as the son of her ex-boyfriend, though she had never slept with him, finally told the police in March this year when she discovered her father making advances to a 14-year-old girl in the family home, the report said.
In a shocking police interview shown to the jury, the girl said, "He started pestering me. I said I did not want to have sex with him, but he locked the bedroom door. I knew it was illegal to have sex with your father. I said it's illegal and I do not want to get pregnant or get into trouble. That's how I got pregnant. He told me not to tell anyone."
The court heard that the teenager's father threatened to kill himself if she told anyone about the abuse. "He said he would take 1,000 tablets," she said. The girl and her father, both from Cambridgeshire, have not been named "for legal reasons".
The father denies three counts of rape, one of sexual activity with a child and one of sexual assault of a child.
A similar case took place in Austria where Josef Fritzl kept his daughter Elisabeth locked in a cellar for nearly 24 years and raped her numerous times.

Delhi man hired contract killers to get father murdered: Cops

New Delhi: Crime Branch officials have arrested five persons for allegedly murdering a spice trader in 2008. Police said the victim Jai Bhagwan Gupta's son had plotted the murder.
Identifying the son as Nikesh Gupta (29), the police said that the spice trader was shot dead while he was on a morning walk in Priyadarshani Vihar.
The incident had come to light on January 11, 2008, when Nikesh, a resident of CC Colony in Model Town, filed a complaint with the local police stating that his father had not returned from his morning walk. Soon after, the neighbourhood milkman reportedly saw Gupta lying on a road near Highway No 91, in the vicinity of the Priyadarshini Vihar Market.
Nikesh and his stepmother rushed to the spot and found Gupta's body lying in a pool of blood. Though they took him to the Hindu Rao Hospital, the spice trader was declared brought dead. A case of murder was registered with the Model Town police.
Acting on a tip-off, the police reached a paan shop, Chourasiya Pan Bhandar, at Kalyan Vihar, where they had learnt that few suspects would gather, on December 7. Upon being questioned, the gang members revealed that they had assembled at the spot to evict a tenant from a flat owned by Nikesh in Shalimar Bagh. Further grilling revealed that they had murdered Gupta two years ago, police said.
"It was a dead-end case. We were lucky to have nabbed the five accused," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand.
The contract killers allegedly employed by Nikesh were identified as Lalit Yadav (22), Lal Bahadur (40), Gaurav Kumar (23) and Mohad Adil (23). Another accomplice, Rakesh Kumar, had died in a pitched battle between two gangs at Rohtak in Haryana last year.
When interrogated, Nikesh disclosed that he held a grudge against his father, who used to allegedly ill-treat him. According to the police, Nikesh hired the contract killers for Rs 10 lakh. While Rs 6 lakh was handed over to Lalit, the rest of the amount was deposited with Lal Bahadur. They had then decided to murder Gupta while he was out for his morning walk.
The accused have been charged with murder and conspiracy to murder.

Alcohol, sex rampant in Nithyananda's ashram: Victim

Bangalore: One of the witnesses in the case against Swami Nithyananda, the selfstyled godman who has been accused of rape and of hurting religious sentiments, has said in a statement to the CID that the swami had condoms and liquor at his Bidadi ashram.

The CID has submitted the statements to the Ramanagar Court along with the chargesheet.
One witness, who was reportedly forced by the swami to have physical relationship with him in the name of enlightenment (moksha), has said in her statement that during her stay in the Bidadi ashram, between August 2006 and December 2006, Nithyananda asked her to get liquor from a liquor store.
She has said in the statement that though she was surprised by this instruction, she ignored her ego (as preached by Nithyananda) and did not judge the master.
According to her statement to CID, no respectable family woman would go to a liquor store, but she subjected herself to such indignity of going to a liquor store near the ashram and buy alcohol.

"He asked me to bring it to his room one day and drink it. Since I was not used to drinking such strong alcohol, my body reacted badly by vomiting and then I passed out. I have no idea what happened to me until Nithyananda woke me up after a few hours. I found myself lying naked in his bed," she has said in her statement.
"He then asked me to get dressed and leave. I must mention here that, according to the ashram rules created by Nithyananda himself, alcohol is strictly banned in the ashram premises," says the statement.
So, he reminded her about this rule and cautioned her to be extra careful in keeping the liquor very confidential, she said in her statement.

She visited the Las Vegas Ashram in May 2006, where he had taken his team, including her to a strip club in Las Vegas. The swami shed his saffron clothing, and changed into a T-shirt and jeans. He explained to his followers that he was becoming too popular, and it was necessary for him to travel incognito.
After their return, he called her to his room and asked her to perform a strip tease for him. Later, he asked her to buy "sexy clothes, condoms, make-up and red lipstick," she says in her statement.
Nithyananda used condoms during sex with her. He instructed her a couple of times to buy condoms, keep them with her very carefully, and hand them over to him later. "After sex, he would carefully collect the used condom and keep it with himself, saying it had to be disposed in a water body, and so he would do it himself while travelling," she detailed.
The investigating officers have submitted her deposition before the Ramnagar district court.
Source: Agencies