AA: Meerut (UP), Nov 6 (ANI): A policeman was killed and at least six others were injured while trying to save two bridegrooms from the village mob angered by dowry demand in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut district in the wee hours of Monday.

 

The grooms - brothers Latafat and Gafoor - and their wedding party were beaten up and humiliated after they reportedly demanded dowry from the brides' families.

 

The members of the grooms' marriage party were taken hostage. The angry villagers beat up Latafat and Gafoor and smeared their faces with black ink.

 

Members of the wedding party called the police to rescue them.

 

A police spokesperson said when their team went to the village to try to pacify the villagers, they were attacked with stones and bricks.

 

"Late night at about 2.30 a.m. some miscreants pelted stones and because of which six policemen are seriously injured," said Jyoti Narayan, Senior Superintendent of Police, Meerut.

 

Brothers Latafat and Gafoor had gone to the brides' place with a wedding party of about 80 members to marry the two sisters.

 

The families of grooms and brides began quarrelling after the ceremony, with the brides' family alleging that the grooms had demanded dowry payments.

 

"My two sisters were getting married. They (grooms) asked for a motorcycle for each of them. And, we did provide them with that. In total, we had decided on one lakh rupees, which included a motorcycle. The motorcycle we gave, it cost us 80,000 rupees and there was 26,000 rupees in cash. After which they expected us to give a car to each of the grooms and this was the cause of our disagreement and the issue later became more serious," said Mohammad Bilal, brother of the brides.

 

The grooms were slapped on their faces till their cheeks bled. They were humiliated and made to hold their ears and squat on the ground, a traditional punishment for children in schools.

 

Dowry payments have been illegal in India for more than 40 years. However, the practice of demanding and giving dowry during weddings continues. (ANI)

Labels: Crime

MP: Ambala, Oct 27 (ANI): Chief of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda sect, Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, will today appear before a CBI court in connection with two cases of murder and one of sexual harassment.

The court who had granted regular bail to Singh on Thursday, asked him to appear before the court on Saturday.

Singh's lawyer Jasmir Singh had said that Special CBI Judge R K Saini allowed the regular bail plea as his "prima facie involvement" in the three cases had not been established,

Dera chief spokesman Aditya Insaan had claimed the charges against Singh were "baseless" and that "truth will prevail".

However, the prosecution lawyer had said that they would decide on the future course of action after receiving the copy of the judgement.

The Ambala Police have already made tight security arrangements. Four companies of the police and at least six DSPs have been summoned from adjoining districts of Ambala.

Singh is facing charges for the murder of Dera manager Ranjit Singh and a Sirsa journalist Ram Chander Chatterpati as also a case of alleged sexual harrasment of a woman disciple. 

The CBI had filed three chargesheets against the Dera head on July 31 and on October 20 had opposed the granting of interim bail to Singh.

The regular bail application was moved by Singh on October 4, and the court had then extended the interim bail granted to him till October 15. (ANI)

Labels: Crime

MP: Ambala (Haryana), Oct.25 (ANI): The embattled head of the
Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda sect, Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, was
today granted regular bail by a CBI court in connection with two cases
of murder and one of sexual harassment.

Special CBI Judge R K Saini, who had on Monday reserved his order
after the defence concluded arguments, allowed the regular bail plea
as his "prima facie involvement" in the three cases had not been
established, Singh's lawyer Jasmir Singh told reporters in Ambala.

Dera chief spokesman Aditya Insaan claimed the charges against Singh
were "baseless" and that "truth will prevail".

Singh is facing charges for the murder of Dera manager Ranjit Singh
and a Sirsa journalist Ram Chander Chatterpati as also a case of
alleged sexual harrasment of a woman disciple.

The CBI had filed three chargesheets against the Dera head on July 31
and on October 20 had opposed the granting of interim bail to Singh.

The regular bail application was moved by Singh on October 4 and the
court had then extended the interim bail granted to him till October
15. (ANI)

Labels: Crime, Haryana

MP: Ambala, Oct 25 (ANI): A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court will today give its order on the bail plea of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh, who has been accused of sexual assault and murder.

 

Special CBI Judge R K Saini had reserved the decision on regular bail application till today.  

 

The CBI is opposing grant of bail to Singh, alleging that the sect chief was threatening the witnesses.

 

In an application filed before Special CBI Judge, the investigating agency also demanded that no regular bail be granted to Singh as he pressurise the witnesses.

 

The defence counsel, however, said that allegations against his client were not true.

 

Security has already been tightened up in the town. A Rapid Action Force (RAF) company has already conducted a flag march around the court complex.

 

The Dera chief is accused of two murders -- that of a driver and a journalist -- besides a case of sexual harassment of a woman disciple.

 

The CBI has transferred all the three cases against the Dera chief to a session court.

 

The CBI had filed a chargesheet on July 31, accusing him of murdering sect manager, Ranjit Singh, and a Sirsa-based journalist, Ram Chander Chatterpatti, and for the alleged rape of a Sadhavi.

 

Two accused, Inder Sain and Avtar Singh were discharged in the Chatterpatti murder case on a defence plea that the duo had not been named as accused by the CBI in the chargesheet.

 

Three others -- Kishan Lal, Kuldip Singh and Nirmal Singh have been facing charges of conspiracy and murder.

 

Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh has been charged under Section 120-B (Conspiracy) in connection with the case relating to the murder of Ranjit Singh.

 

The other accused are Kishan Lal, Jasbir Singh, Sabdil, Avtar Singh and Inder Singh, booked under Section 302 (Murder).

 

Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh is the lone accused under Section 376 (Rape) in connection with the alleged rape of a Sadhavi.

 

A case was also registered against him following a complaint by a Bathinda resident, who accused Ram Raheem Singh of hurting the religious sentiments of Sikhs by donning the attire of the tenth Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh. (ANI)

Labels: Crime

The case was transferred to the Court of District and Sessions Judge V B Roy from Lucknow on the orders of the Supreme Court earlier this year. 
 
In March, trial was began in Dehradun after apprehensions expressed by Madhumita's family that Tripathi may impede a free and fair trial in Uttar Pradesh as in the past also he had tried to influence the course of investigations of the case and was getting luxurious treatment in jail.
 
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has investigated the case.

So far almost seventy nine witnesses have appeared in the case.

Madhumita's sister Nidhi and her servant Desraj were the key witnesses.
 
The case assumed a political dimension after Nidhi, alleged the poetess was involved in a relationship with Tripathi.
 
Nidhi had alleged that Tripathi's wife was behind the murder because she was opposed to her husband's relationship with Madhumita. Tripathi, however, strongly denied any role of his wife or his own in the murder.
 
The district court had framed murder charges against five accused including Tripathi.
 
The other four accused include Tripathi's wife Madhumani, Rohit Chaturvedi, Prakash Chandra Pandey and Santosh Rai.
 
The CBI has claimed that Tripathi and his wife Madhumani allegedly conspired to eliminate her as she was carrying the child of Tripathi with whom she had developed an intimate relationship. (ANI)

Labels: Crime

The court on October 16 had held suspended ACP S S Rathi and nine other Delhi Police personnel guilty under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 193 (giving false evidence) and 120B (conspiracy) of the IPC.

The other policemen are Inspector Anil Kumar, Sub Inspector Ashok Rana, Head Constables Shiv Kumar, Tejpal Singh, Mahavir Singh, Constables Sumer Singh, Subhash Chand, Sunil Kumar and Kothari Ram.

The court also ordered initiation of criminal proceedings against ballistic expert Roop Singh for giving false investigation report.
 
On March 31, 1997, a Crime Branch team of the Delhi police, led by Rathi pumped bullets into two businessmen -- Pradeep Goyal and Jajgjit Singh--, killing the two at the spot.
 
According to the prosecution, the team was chasing an alleged gangster. In Connaught Place, the team surrounded a Maruti Esteem car in which the alleged criminal was supposed to be going.
 
They then resorted to indiscriminate firing, killing the two businessmen in the process.
 
On September 8, 1998, the 10 accused policemen were charged with murder, criminal conspiracy and false evidence.
 
All the ten policemen, including Rathi were suspended when it was found that the two killed in the encounter were not the criminals but innocent civilians.
 
The CBI has claimed in its chargesheet in 1997 that in order to cover up their crime, the cops planted a pistol and a few cartridges inside the car to corroborate its claim that the first fire came from the businessmen.
 
But the forensic report disproved this theory that any shot was fired from the recovered weapon.
 
The sensational case had led to the removal of the then Delhi Police chief Nikhil Kumar, now a Congress MP. (ANI)

Labels: Crime