HUBBALLI l saturday l may 11, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Delhi court to frame charges against Brij Bhushan Singh The BJP MP and former chief of the Wrestling Federation of India is an accused in a sexual harassment case filed by female wrestlers ‘Sufficient evidence against accused’ Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot ordered framing of charges against Singh under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. “There is sufficient evidence to frame charges against the accused,” the judge said in her order on Friday May 21 Co-accused Tomar also to be charged ■ Six wrestlers had filed complaint against Singh and the Delhi Police filed the chargesheet on June 15. The court, however, discharged Singh in a complaint filed by the sixth victim, citing lack of evidence to support the charges ■ The court also ordered framing of charges against co-accused and ex-WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar for the offence of criminal intimidation When the court will officially frame charges against Brij Bhushan Singh CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Justice at last as two sentenced to life for Dabholkar’s murder City Police and was handed over the CBI in 2014. Close to 11 years after rationW h i l e D r Taw a d e w a s alist Dr Narendra Dabholkar chargesheeted in September was shot dead in Pune, a spe- 2016, Andure and Kalaskar cial session court on Friday were chargesheeted in Februsentenced two of the accused ary 2019. The chargesheeting to life imprisonment while ac- of Punalekar and Bhave hapquitting three others, includ- pened in November 2019. ing alleged key conspirator Dr The accused were booked Virendrasinh Tawde. under Indian Penal Code secAll five accused were linked tions 34 (common intention), to the Sanatan Sanstha. Apart 120 B (conspiracy), 302 (murfrom Dr Tawde, an ENT der), relevant sections surgeon, Mumbaiof the Arms Act, and based lawyer Sanjeev Section 16 (terrorism) Punalekar and his aide of the UAPA. Vikram Bhave were acThe court blamed quitted for lack of evithe competent officer’s dence. Sachin Andure negligence for the failand Sharad Kalaskar, ure to prove the chargDr Narendra who alleged shot dead es under UAPA. As for Dabholkar D a b h o l k a r, w e r e Dr Tawde, the judge convicted. said there was ample scope for Rationalist, anti-superstition doubt, the prosecution had activist and founder of the Ma- failed to convert the suspicion harashtra Andhashraddha into evidence. Nirmoolan Samiti, Dr Dab“In the case of Bhave and holkar was 67 when he was Punalekar, even if there is shot dead by two bike-borne as- scope for suspicion, there is no sailants on the VR Shinde evidence,” the judge said. The bridge in Pune on August 20, charges against Andure and 2013. The shocking murder was Kalaskar were proved beyond initially probed by the Pune doubt, he added. S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai Kejri gets 21 days to hit campaign trail SC grants him interim bail till June 1; says it took a holistic and libertarian position in view of general elections S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi In a major relief to jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Supreme Court on Friday granted him interim bail till June 1 to participate in the general election campaigns, while imposing certain conditions on him. He was in Tihar jail since March 21 for alleged money laundering tied to the Delhi excise policy scam. In its eight-page order, a two-judge bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna directed Kejriwal to surrender on June 2. Hours later, Kejriwal stepped out of Tihar and thanked the judges for their liberal order. “We have to save the country from dictatorship, I will fight with all my might but need the support of 140 crore people,” he told the media. While rejecting the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) stiff opposition to the bail, the court said, “Arvind Kejriwal is the Chief Minister of Delhi and a leader of one of the national parties. No doubt, serious accusations have been made, but he has not been convicted. He does not have any criminal antecedents. He is not a threat to the society. The investigation in the present case has remained pending since August 2022.” While the ED argued that the grant of interim bail would amount to placing politicians in a beneficial position compared to ordinary citizens, the bench said, “courts always New Delhi: Taking strong exception to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge writing to leaders of the INDIA bloc over the voter turnout data, the ECI on Friday accused him of obstructing the Lok Sabha elections and trying to push ‘a biased narrative’ under the guise of seeking clarifications. P7 Prajwal tapes: Police detain Devaraje Gowda Express News service @ Bengaluru BJP leader and advocate Devaraje Gowda, who had alerted the party leaders about Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna’s alleged sexual abuses sometime ago, was detained by Hiriyur police (Chitradurga district) on Friday in connection with a complaint filed against him by a woman on April 1 in Holenarasipur police station. Holenarasipur police rushed to Hiriyur in the evening to take Devaraje Gowda into their custody . In her complaint, the woman alleged she was sexually abused by Devaraje Gowda at his house. Before this, Devaraje Gowda had filed a complaint with Hebbal police, accusing three people from Holenarasipur of demanding Rs 2 crore from him in a honeytrap case. Third FIR against MP Meanwhile, another FIR has been registered against Prajwal, the prime accused in the sex scandal. With this, three FIRs have been filed against the absconding M P. The third FIR is based on the second rape complaint against him. In this complaint, Prajwal has been accused of raping the victim repeatedly, demanding sexual favours, filming, disrobing, and t h r e a t e n i n g h e r. The complaint was registered on May 8. P4 Kejriwal can’t visit the office of the Chief Minister and the Delhi Secretariat Arvind Kejriwal addresses supporters after coming out of Tihar Jail | Express take into consideration the peculiarities associated with the person in question and the sur- 2 Shall not sign official files unless it is required and necessary for obtaining clearance/ approval of L-G rounding circumstances. In fact, to ignore the same would be iniquitous and wrong.” The bench noted that the legality and validity of the arrest itself is under challenge before them and that they are yet to take the call. “The situation cannot be compared with harvesting of crops or plea to look after business affairs. In this background, once the matter is sub judice and the questions relating to legality of arrest are under consideration, a more ho- 3 Kejriwal must not make any comment on his role in the present case 4 CM must not interact with any witness and/or have access to any official files connected with the case listic and libertarian view is justified, in the background that the 18th Lok Sabha General Elections are being held,” the order said. Retired SC judge Madan B Lokur described it as a “good order that can have a large significance at the Centre and Delhi”. Another retired judge P K S Baghel termed the order as good for a healthy democracy adding it would definitely , give a good boost to the AAP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on May 25 in Delhi. titans of gujarat Gujarat Titans’ B Sai Sudharsan (top) & Shubman Gill scored centuries to put on a record partnership of 210 for the opening wicket against Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad on Friday. Gill’s ton was the 100th century in IPL history. Titans won by 35 runs | SPORTZPICS NIA arrests key accused, harbourer in Nettaru case P r a j n a G R @ Madikeri 12 Maoists killed in C’garh encounter Raipur: Security forces on Friday gunned down 12 Maoists during an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, taking the number of Left-wing extremists eliminated so far this year in the state to 103. Two security personnel were also injured in an IED blast triggered by the Naxalites during the operation. P7 1 Man kills minor girl, flees with severed head express read EC pulls up Kharge over letter to I.N.D.I.A netas Four commandments The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested Mustafa Paichar, the main accused in Praveen N e t t a r u m u rd e r case, and his harb o u re r M a n s o o r Pasha from Anemahal village in Hassan district. Nettaru was hacked to death by two bike-borne assailants on July 26, 2022, at Bellare village near Sullia in Dakshina Kannada district. The killers were allegedly cadres of the banned Popu- A 32-year-old man allegedly murdered a 16-year-old girl and fled with her severed head at Surlabbi village in Madikeri taluk of Kodagu on Thursday night. She was the only student in Class 10 of Surlabbi Government High School. She secured 50.24% marks in the SSLC exam. The accused has been identified as Monnanda Prakash Onkarappa of Hammiyala village. Sources said Prakash was in love with the minor girl for over a year and wanted to marry her after her Class 10 exam. P5 B a l a c h a u h a n @ Bengaluru lar Front of India (PFI). Meanwhile, sources said Siraj of Sakleshpur has been arrested for supporting Paichar and Pasha. The NIA had identified Paichar and another accused, Kodaje Mohammed Sherif, who is absconding, in the sensational murder case as “leaders of the now defunct service teams (of PFI) who were tasked with identifying key targets”, and had announced a reward of Rs 7 lakh on infor mation leading to his arrest. P4
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