Assam man caught with 1.3kg charas

PANAJI: Porvorim police on Tuesday night arrested Basu Das, 33, a native of Assam, for illegal possession of 1.30kg of charas, worth 1 lakh in the international market.

Souces said that on Tuesday evening, following a tip-off a person was to deliver a consignment of drugs at Betim, below the Mandovi bridge, the Porvorim police laid a trap and nabbed the accused.

Das has been arrested under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, and the judicial magistrate first class, Mapusa, remanded him to one day in police custody.

Police sources said that the accused will be produced in NDPS court on Thursday.

The police,said the accused was earlier working as a security guard at the Cuncolim industrial estate and had been also arrested in a theft case.

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Assam cop kills self, wife & daughter

JORHAT: An Assam Police personnel committed suicide after shooting his wife and daughter by his 9 mm service carbine at the police reserve in Jorhat on Saturday.

Pulin Rongfa, a police havildar posted at Haflong with the 15 Assam Police Battalion, shot dead his wife Moni alias Anjali Phukan Rongfa (35) and daughter, Juhi, (15) before killing himself with his rifle at his mother-in-law's government quarters at the police reserve at 2.30 pm.

Pulin's mother-in-law Rupali Phukan is also a havildar in Jorhat and was residing at her quarters inside the police reserve. Anjali and her two daughters were staying at her mother's quarter. Pulin had come to meet them when the incident occurred. Sumi, Pulin's elder daughter, survived as she went out of the house to inform her grandmother about her father's arrival. Police said the actual reason behind the incident is yet to be ascertained. "According to preliminary investigation, there was a family dispute that led to the murder and suicide. But a probe is on to ascertain the exact cause of the incident," said Jorhat additional SP (HQ) Nabin Singh.

"We found three blank cartridges from the spot and it is confirmed that Pulin had shot his wife and daughter first and then shot himself," said Jorhat police reserve officer Mahesh Adhikari.

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Drugs seized at IGI airport

NEW DELHI: In yet another case of drug haul at IGI Airport the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on Thursday arrested a Manipur resident with nine kilograms of pseudo-ephedrine, the main ingredient in notified psychotropic substance methaphetamine.

This is the sixth such seizure at the airport since October 6.

According to sources, at about 9.40 am on Thursday a passenger came at gate no-3 of Terminal 1D of IGI Airport, New Delhi to gain entry into airport terminal. Given that several North East residents had been arrested in the recent past for drug possession at the airport, the CISF was being extra cautious with people going to the northeastern states.

The passenger looked nervous and was making suspicious movements. CISF personnel thus short-listed him for a thorough checking at the gate before allowing him to enter into the terminal building.

During screening of the baggage, tablets weighing about nine KG were detected and recovered by CISF staff. The seized item appeared to be pseudo-ephedrinedrug. The matter was immediately informed to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials of Delhi Zone. NCB team reached at the Airport and after checking, they confirmed that recovered item was pseudo-ephedrinedrug worth Rs. 7.2 Lakh (Approx) in Indian market and Rs. 25 Lakh (Approx) in International market.

The passenger's e-ticket revealed his identity as Lal Ruatlian, 25, traveling by Go-Air flight No- G8-151 to Guwahati. During enquiry Lal Ruatlian informed that he is a resident of Imphal and came to Delhi for tourism, he was residing in a rented room at Janakpuri, Delhi.

Apprehended passenger and recovered drug were handed over to NCB officials. NCB officials immediately took them into custody and started investigation after registering a case against arrested passengers.

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Banned drugs seized in Manipur

GUWAHATI: In the biggest contraband seizure in recent years in Manipur, personnel of Assam Rifles and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized 1,90,000 strips of banned drugs on Monday.

The estimated value of the drugs, recovered from a house at Moijang village in Manipur's Thoubal district, is approximately Rs 15.34 crore.

"The significance of the seized items is due to the fact that they are smuggled from India to Myanmar for further processing where the drugs are mixed with red phosphate and commonly known rave-party drugs amphetamine and methamine which are sold in the international market at 10000 US dollars per kg," said an official.

He added, "The party drugs are smuggled back to India and sold at Rs 1,500 per tablet."

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Two senior Zee journalists arrested on extortion charges

Two senior journalists of Zeenews channel were arrested here on Tuesday on charges of trying to extort Rs 100 crore from Congress MP Naveen Jindal's group for not doing news reports on coal scam linking his firm.

The arrests on charges of extortion came following the registration of a case about 45 days ago on a complaint filed by Jindal's company with Delhi Police's Crime Branch.

Sudhir Chaudhary, the head of Zee News, and Samir Ahluwalia, head of Zee Business, have been arrested, a senior police official said.

Jindal had last month released a CD in which purportedly showed footage in which the Zee journalists were trying to strike a deal with his company officials, telling them that their channel will not air negative stories of Jindal Group if the money is paid to them.

Chaudhary had rubbished the allegations as ‘fabrication’ and described it as ‘pressure tactics’ to prevent the channel from doing such stories.

"We have done a series of stories on coal scam based on official papers. This is a retaliation to our relentless campaign against corruption," he had said.

Jindal Power and Steel Ltd (JPSL) Chairman Naveen Jindal had earlier claimed that the Zee executives had demanded Rs 20 crore for four years and they secretly filmed the meetings.
They later raised the demand to Rs 100 crore for not broadcasting stories against the company in relation to allocation of coal blocks, he claimed.

JSPL is among the companies named in the CAG report as one of the beneficiaries of the controversial coal block allocations.

In a retaliatory move, Zee News had last month sent a Rs 150 crore defamation notice to the Congress MP, who too had filed a Rs 200 crore case against the media conglomerate claiming the TV channel had tried to extort money from his company.

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SP suspended for Facebook arrests, magistrate shunted

Nearly a week after two Palghar girls were arrested for an innocuous facebook post, the govt is suspending the superintendent of police (Thane rural) Ravindra Sengaonkar.

MUMBAI: Nearly a week after two Palghar girls were unnecessarily summoned to the police station and arrested for an innocuous Facebook post, the government is suspending the superintendent of police (Thane rural) Ravindra Sengaonkar. In a separate development, the Bombay high court on Monday transferred Ramchandra Bagade, the first-class judicial magistrate at Palghar who had given the girls bail of Rs 15,000 each.

Government officials said Palghar senior police inspector Shrikant Pingle would also be suspended and additional superintendent of police (Thane rural) Sangram Nishandar would escape with a strong warning. The action against the cops comes after a sustained campaign in TOI against the arrests of Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Shrinivasan, both 21. Sources said this is the biggest action against high-ranking police officers in Maharashtra in the recent past.

Dhada had lamented in a facebook post the November 18 shutdown due to Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's funeral. Shrinivasan had 'liked' the post. Though Dhada didn't name Thackeray,the local Sena chief complained against the girls and the cops arrested the duo on November 19, which kicked off a nationwide furore over the attack on freedom of speech. Moreover, only on November 20 did cops arrest the vandals who caused Rs 20 lakh worth of damage at Shaheen's uncle's hospital on November 18, despite her taking down her post and apologizing that day itself.

The actions of Bagade had been recently questioned by former chief information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, who asked why the magistrate hadn't seen the absurdity of the charges against the girls and thrown out the case. Bagade, who had also given bail of Rs 7,500 each to 10 hospital vandals, has been transferred to Jalgaon with immediate effect.

Sengaonkar's suspension comes after the government spent days dithering on taking action against the cops. Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and home minister R R Patil had promised action on Thursday, but an inquiry report by special inspector general (Konkan) Sukhwinder Singh was ready only on Friday. It indicted the three cops for not taking action at the appropriate time and called for appropriate administrative action against the police officials who handled the case ineptly. However, Singh's factual report didn't specify the action. Additional chief secretary (home) Amitabh Rajan recommended suspending Sengaonkar and Pingle and warning Nishandar.

On Monday, government officials blamed the delay in taking action on the statewide alert that had been issued due to the anniversary of the 26/11 attacks.

Singh's report, which was submitted to the DGP, confirmed that there was absolutely no justification for arresting the two young women under either sections 295A or 505-2 of the IPC and Section 66A of the IT Act. The two girls were first booked under 295-A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) and IT Act section 66A (sending a grossly offensive message through a communication device). Later, 295A was dropped and replaced with 505-2 (promoting enmity, hatred or ill will).

After the arrests, DGP Sanjeev Dayal immediately submitted a preliminary report to Rajan saying there appeared to be high-handedness on the part of the police and the arrests appeared unwarranted. Union telecom and IT minister Kapil Sibal and minister of state for communications and IT Milind Deora also condemned the arrests.

Chavan appointed Singh to probe the episode on November 19. All along, both Chavan and home minister R R Patil, while admitting that the Palghar police had exceeded their brief, maintained that once the IG's report was received stern action would be taken against the erring officials. "We have taken the arrests of the two women very seriously. We will take stern action against the erring police officials. We will take such action that they will remember for life," Patil said.

However, till Monday there was no sign of any action being taken. The Union home ministry stepped in on Friday, with a joint secretary in the ministry asking the state home department to immediately submit the inquiry report and details of the action taken against erring police officials.

Singh recommended dropping the charges against the girls. His report was processed by Rajan and submitted to Patil on Saturday. "Amitabh Rajan endorsed the views expressed by Sukhwinder Singh and has recommended stringent action against the police officials indicted in the report," a senior home department bureaucrat said on Monday.

Commenting on the suspension, senior counsel Amit Desai said, "Whilst the suspension is certainly welcome, what would be appreciated is that, before the issue becomes stale in the public's mind, final action is also taken. Since it is only a proper stringent action taken by the state that alone will send a message to other officers not to act in haste in matters of registration of such FIRs or makes such incorrect arrests. Final action should be quick and strong so that the message goes out that police too must face consequences for their hasty and unjustifiable acts.

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Dad, brother, uncle rape Kerala minor

The police is investigating the alleged tampering of the dying declaration of a girl, whose sister has disclosed that both were serially abused by their father, brother and other relatives.

On Saturday, the police arrested Arun Kumar, 45, a native of Andaloor near Dharmadam in Kannur district and his son for abusing his 13-year old daughter after she confided the incest to her teachers.

The girl, whose mother was dead, said in her complaint that two years ago her sister committed suicide as she had been subjected to brutal sexual abuse by the father, who was a drug addict.

It’s also alleged that the police tampered with the victim’s dying declaration to save some political leaders, who were involved in the case. The police has nabbed an uncle of the girl, a CPM leader, in connection with the serial abuse. Dharmadam circle inspector M.P. Vinod told DC on Monday that police was investigating the allegations and proper action would be initiated if tampering was detected.

“We had a preliminary verification of the dying statement and no such tampering is visible”, he added.

The police was also perusing other documents related to the suicide.

Police said the father and son were addicted to drugs and alcohol. The elder sister was admitted with fatal, third degree burns at Medical College here in August 2010.

The younger sibling recently disclosed the torture to her teachers.

She was then subjected to a medical examination at Thalassery general hospital to confirm the abuse.
Following this, Dharmadam police arrested the father and the son.

READ MORE - Dad, brother, uncle rape Kerala minor

Huge haul of banned drugs

Pseudoephedrine bound for Myanmar

The pseudoephedrine tablets that were seized from a godown in Guwahati on Sunday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, Nov 13 : A huge quantity of pseudoephedrine meant to be smuggled into Myanmar and estimated to be worth over Rs 1.2 crore was seized and two persons were arrested in this connection by Customs officials yesterday.

Acting on a tip-off, the anti-smuggling unit of the Guwahati customs division seized 1,00,17,000 tablets and 101.56 kg of powdered pseudoephedrine from a private godown at the Pub Boragaon area of the city, an official source today said.

Pseudoephedrine is a precursor chemical used for manufacturing party drugs such as Speed, Ecstasy and Ice. It is used for treating nasal and sinus congestion and was declared as a controlled substance under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Regulation of Controlled Substances) Order, 1993.

“Preliminary investigation has revealed that these drugs — packed in 58 cartons — were sent from Delhi to Guwahati through a private transport company. From here it would have been sent to Mizoram and then smuggled into Myanmar where several illegal factories for producing party drugs are located,” the source said.

“So far, two persons have been arrested and one truck has been seized in this connection,” he added.

Two persons — Raju Sen, 28, and Lalthanpuia, 38 have been arrested for their involvement. “They would have transported the drugs from Guwahati to Mizoram. They could not produce any of the documents required for transportation of pseudoephedrine,” the source said.

A case has been registered against them under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

The accused duo was produced in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Kamrup, here today and remanded to judicial custody.

“It appears that a huge interstate racket is involved in smuggling tablets containing pseudoephedrine from India to Myanmar and more arrests are likely to be made in this case,” he said.

READ MORE - Huge haul of banned drugs

Rs 4.50 lakh looted from Arunachal Rural Bank

ITANAGAR, Nov 9 – In a broad daylight robbery, armed miscreants today looted Rs 4.50 lakh from the Itanagar branch of Arunachal Pradesh Rural Bank.

According to police, a group of three miscreants armed with small firearms entered the bank branch located at a busy area near Ramakrishna Mission Hospital here around 12.15 pm and looted the amount at gun point.

While two of them stood guard at the gate of the bank branch, one entered the branch and opened fire in the air. The miscreant threatened the bank staff with dire consequence if an alarm was raised and then decamped with the booty.

A case has been registered at the Itanagar police station in this connection, informed the Superintendent of Police, Capital Complex, Surender Kumar, adding that a manhunt was on to nab the miscreants.

READ MORE - Rs 4.50 lakh looted from Arunachal Rural Bank

Drugs worth Rs 10 lakh seized in Dimapur

DIMAPUR, Oct 18 – In a major haul, Dimapur East police seized a huge consignment of 14,11,000 tablets of controlled drugs worth Rs 10 lakh from a cosmetic shop located on the first floor of Hazi Park shopping complex here.

The banned drugs were reportedly transported from Delhi to Dimapur through the Railway Mail Service and shifted to the godown by the accused, one Mahadev Prasad, owner of the shop.

Police told reporters today that he received specific information of the consignment and had sent some plain clothes police personnel along with two officers to locate the godown.

On raiding the place, police found the controlled drugs kept hidden in a secret compartment built on the ceiling of the shop. The drugs were packed in 17 cartons.

The seized drugs included 10,08,000 tablets of Redikuf (Pseudeophedrine Hydcrochloride & Bromhexine Hydrochloride) 99,000 tablets of Sucet (Cetrizine Dihydrochloride & Pseudeophedrine HCI) and Cetcof (Cetirizine Hydrochloride & Pseudeophedrine HCI tablets).

These illegal consignments reportedly go to Manipur and Myanmar where the drugs are in high demand. Certain compositions of these drugs are learnt to be used for making some other illegal drugs like heroin, police said quoting sources.

The seized drugs are worth around Rs 10 lakh in Delhi with the price per strip of ten tablets ranging from Rs 3-10.

According to medical experts, the seized drugs have very high dosage of 40 mg which can sedate a normal person for at least 3 days.

The accused has been chargesheeted under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and investigation is on to ascertain the source and destination of these drugs, police said.

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Police find bodies of two schoolgirls

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh Police have found the decomposed bodies of two schoolgirls in East Siang district. The corpses were found from Loklung bamboo garden near Ngorlung village under Ruksin circle of the district on Saturday, a source said.

The bodies have been identified to be that of 15-year-old Rinky Lohar, a Class VIII student of Govt HS School Ruksin, and Laxmi Kumari Prasad (16), a Class IX student of the same school who reportedly went missing last Monday.

An FIR has been lodged at Ruksin police station. The sources further informed that the girls had committed suicide by hanging themselves with a scarf (chunni). After post-mortem, the bodies were handed over to their relatives. A case of unnatural death has been registered.

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Nagaland announces reward for fake-notes gang leader

Kohima, Oct 16 : Nagaland has announced a reward of Rs.50,000 for information about the leader of the gang involved in circulating counterfeit Indian currency notes in the state, a minister said Monday.

"Any person who can provide detailed information on the ring leader circulating fake notes in Nagaland will be given a cash reward of Rs.50,000," Nagaland Health and Family Welfare Minister Kuzholuzo Neinu told IANS on phone.

Moreover, Neinu promised that the identity of the informant will be kept secret.

Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has expressed serious concern over recovery of fake currency notes in the state and said pushing fake currency is a serious crime which should be dealt with firmly.

Nagaland Police Oct 5 arrested three people who were attempting to deposit counterfeit currency notes with a face value of Rs.45,000 in a State Bank of India branch in Nagaland's Phek district.

"A case has been filed against the culprits and it must be ensured that severe action is initiated," Rio said.

Phek district is about 140 km east of Kohima, the state capital of Nagaland.

"We have arrested the depositor Vekhoneyi Chakhesang and two other people but at the moment we would not reveal the identities of the other two accused in the case in order to ensure our investigation is not hampered," Y.E. Ngullie, the district police chief of Phek, said.

A special investigation team (SIT) headed by Phek Additional Superintendent of Police (Addl SP) Imtimeren is probing the case, he said.

"The SIT is examining the case and how this racket (of counterfeit notes) is spreading in the state. The team will investigate all angles," Ngullie said.

READ MORE - Nagaland announces reward for fake-notes gang leader

2 Nagas drugged, looted in Guwahati

DIMAPUR, Oct 16 – Two Nagas were reportedly drugged in an eatery in Guwahati and looted of their belongings on October 12.

The victims identified as Pyingchio Murry and Renabomo Lotha of Baghty town of Phek district became unconscious after consuming the tea laced with drugs in the eatery and their belongings including cash, mobile phones, etc., were taken away by the eatery employees, Ad-hoc Baghty Town Council chairman Yanpvuthung Kithan said in a release today.

They were later hospitalised and are currently undergoing treatment.

Both had gone to visit their children who are studying in Guwahati but failed to meet them following the incident.

Strongly condemning the incident, the Town Council urged the authority concerned to take stern action against the culprits as per law. It also urged all Nagas to be vigilant so as to avoid such incidents in future.

READ MORE - 2 Nagas drugged, looted in Guwahati

Arrested Manipur cop leads to seizure of 74 kgs of narcotic

Widening its probe into the arrest of a Manipur police official caught allegedly smuggling drugs at the IGI airport, anti-narcotics sleuths today recovered 74 kgs of contraband from a location in the capital.

The seized consignment of pseudoephedrine is estimated to cost Rs 80 lakh in the domestic market. Sleuths suspect that a syndicate operation was behind the incident as the drug was to be smuggled from Manipur to neighbouring Myanmar.

The Manipur cop, Chlalkhogin, along with his wife and an another associate were arrested yesterday by the Narcotics Control Bureau after they received a tip-off from CISF.

Confirming the development, NCB zonal director (Delhi) Manoranjan Kumar told PTI that they have seized additional 74 kgs of narcotic after getting information about it from Chlalkhogin.

Twenty four kgs of pseudoephedrine was allegedly seized from the Manipur cop yesterday after the contraband was detected in his bag at the IGI airport.

The NCB had arrested the trio under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and has now put them under interrogation.

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Police official among 3 arrested at IGI for smuggling

New Delhi: A Manipur police official and two others were Saturday arrested for allegedly smuggling contraband worth Rs 20 lakh from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport here.

The official, identified as one Chlalkhogin, is a constable in Manipur police and he was accompanied with his wife Chongboi and another person Satkholal when they were intercepted by a CISF check squad at the terminal 3 of the IGI.

A senior CISF officer said that the trio were intercepted in the wee hours around 5 am, just before they were scheduled to board an Indigo flight (6E-221) to Guwahati.

"Their baggages appeared to be suspicious. On profiling, they were selected for thorough checking. During screening of one of their baggages about 24 kgs of Pseudoephedrine drug was detected and recovered," CISF spokesperson Hemendra Singh said.

The CISF then called up the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) sleuths who arrested the trio under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

The NCB estimated the value of the drug consignment to be about Rs 20 lakh in the domestic market while the same volume would fetch Rs one crore in the international market, he said.

READ MORE - Police official among 3 arrested at IGI for smuggling