Amarnath Yatra Concludes Incident-Free: Central Reserve Police Force

File photo of batch of Amarnath pilgrims.

Srinagar:  The CRPF today said that it succeeded in conducting the Amarnath pilgrimage without any incident yet again, despite threats of militant strikes.

“CRPF again proved their incredible mettle by successfully conducting Shri Amarnath ji Yatra 2015, despite serious threats of terrorist strike and apprehensions of disturbances,” CRPF spokesman AK Jha said in a statement in Srinagar.

Mr Jha said besides providing security cover to all pilgrims during entire yatra, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was at the forefront when incidents of cloud bursts occurred during pilgrimage.

“Several teams of CRPF along with their officers and doctors rescued several pilgrims and locals who were trapped due to cloud bursts,” he said.

He added that being the nodal security agency for providing security cover to the Amarnath yatra, CRPF deployed about 67 troops to the pilgrim convoys.

“As per practice of previous years, CRPF deployed large number of troops this year as well. As many as 67 companies including mahila troopers were deployed for the security of yatri convoys from Jammu to Pahalgam and Baltal besides providing security on both the routes of yatra on Pahalgam and Baltal axis,” he said.

In view of past attacks on the pilgrimage, the CRPF took steps to ensure that this year the yatra went without any incidents, Mr Jha said.

“Last two yatras witnessed the terrorist attacks and other disturbances but amid speculations, this year it was a very peaceful and successful yatra in which more than 3,52,000 yatris visited the holy shrine despite inclement weather. Not a single incident of militant act occurred and the CRPF ensured infallible security arrangements,” he said.

He added that CRPF also pressed into service other resources like Quick Action Teams (QATs), Bomb Disposal Squads and manpower for smooth conduct of yatra.

Amarnath Yatra Concludes Incident-Free: Central Reserve Police Force

2:42 AM

2:37 AM

Biker, Armed With Syringe, Attacks 13 Women in Andhra Pradesh

In the most recent case, on Sunday, the biker targeted a two-year-old who was with her parents in a village. The police says her mother may have been his intended victim.

Hyderabad:  A motorcyclist in Andhra Pradesh pulls up to women in the West Godavari district, stabs them with injections then races away, says the police, alleging 13 attacks on women in the last few days.

In the most recent case, on Sunday, the biker targeted a two-year-old who was with her parents in a village. The police says her mother may have been his intended victim.

13 schoolgirls and women in different villages have been struck by him. Six women were attacked on August 25 alone.

“One or two needles were also recovered. They were sent for medical and forensic examination. No poison, drugs or bacteria virus were found. There is no need for women to panic,” said District Superintendent of Police Bhaskar Bhushan .

The police has formed 40 teams to track down the man, released a sketch of him based on the description of witnesses and victims, and announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh to anyone giving information leading to his arrest.

Biker, Armed With Syringe, Attacks 13 Women in Andhra Pradesh

2:20 AM

Shwetang Patel Probe a Question of Police Fairness, Gujarat Court Says

According to his family, Shwetang was not an activist or protester and he had not taken part in the protest led by Hardik Patel.

Ahmedabad:  The Gujarat High Court today said that an impartial probe by the CID in the death of 32-year-old Shwetang Patel will go a long way in “restoring” the confidence of people in the “fairness and objectivity” of the Gujarat Police.

The observations came after the Gujarat government filed a report on the ongoing probe of Shwetang Patel, whose family alleges he died in police custody last Tuesday in Ahmedabad, as violence gripped the city after the brief detention of politician Hardik Patel.

Government counsel Mitesh Amin informed the court that an FIR has been lodged at the Bapunagar police station and Gujarat CID had taken over the probe. “An officer of the rank of DSP has taken over the probe and already the statement of victims mother and sister have been recorded and further statements are being recorded,” Mr Amin informed the court.

Justice JB Pardiwala ruled that since necessary steps have been taken following the earlier orders, the court will now cease the monitor the case.

“It is now up to the Gujarat CID to carry out an in-depth and impartial probe to see to it that anyone found guilty should be booked and punished. The impartial and fair probe by the Investigating agency will go a long way in restoring the confidence of the common man in Gujarat police,” he observed.

On Friday the High Court had ordered a probe into the death of the Shwetang after a second post-mortem report had stated that he had died due to severe head injuries. His family alleges that he was beaten in police custody and died of injuries.

 The court noted that the death “looked homicidal”.

According to his family, Shwetang was not an activist or protester and he had not taken part in the protest led by Hardik Patel. The police however alleged that the young man was part of a mob involved in arson in the Bapunagar area.

Shwetang Patel Probe a Question of Police Fairness, Gujarat Court Says

2:17 AM

A Full Meal That Costs Just Re One. Meet the Man Behind it

Venkataraman, owner of AMV Homely Mess has been providing the Re one meal for the past eight years.

Erode:  What can Re one get you in these days of escalating costs?

A full meal no less, at a mess run by a service-minded man for the attenders of poor patients at the Government Headquarters Hospital in Erode.

Venkataraman, owner of AMV Homely Mess has been providing the Re one meal for the past eight years, besides the regular “tiffin” in the morning and night.

He recalls an incident in 2007 which moved him to make this decision. An old woman came to his mess to buy idlis for her ailing husband when there were none available.

He suggested she buy three dosas for Rs 10. She however, said it was costly for her. Even if she did manage to do buy them, she would have to share it equally with her husband and it would be inadequate for both of them.

Venkatraman said he immediately gave her six dosas for the same price, and since then started offering tiffin and meals at low rates to the attenders of patients at the hospital.

“In 2007, I visited Government Headquarters Hospital and enquired about patients with the incharge nurse there. I  was told by their attenders that almost all patients there were from poor families and could not afford food daily; only tea or bread at noon and night.”

He then decided to offer food at lower rates to such attenders of patients.



 



He visited the Government Hospital the next day, met nurses and senior doctors and told them he would provide meals at Re one to an attender. From that day on, he and his wife began visiting the hospital daily to offer 10 tokens to attenders.

“Now for the past few months the number has increased from 10 to 70 per day. In the morning I give 10 tokens, for which three dosas and two idlis are given. In the afternoon, 40 attenders are given meals comprising five items and at night 20 attenders are given dosa and chapati, every meal for just Re one.

“We have decided to increase the number from 70 to 100 in the coming years,” he says.

His wife said they charge Rs 50 per meal from the public, but are planning to continue the Re one meal scheme, despite incurring heavy losses.

Venkatraman employs eight workers at his mess and there is no service on Sundays.

“I am ready to grant the food free of cost, but if I collect at least Re one, the buyer will not waste it. The food is given in packets and no one is allowed to eat inside the mess, but are advised to take it to the hospital, where others can also share the food.”

The couple have two girl children, one of whom is married and the other an engineering student.

A Full Meal That Costs Just Re One. Meet the Man Behind it

2:04 AM

Indrani Mukerjea Being Mistreated by Cops, Lawyers Allege

Indrani Mukerjea being taken, with her face covered, for questiniong to the Khar Police Station in Mumbai on Saturday. (Press Trust of India)

Mumbai:  Indrani Mukerjea, arrested for the murder of her young daughter Sheena Bora, has been beaten by the police, say sources on her legal team, adding that they are being given grossly inadequate access to the 43-year-old former media executive.

Ms Mukerjea’s legal team is headed by noted lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani.  Sources working with him say that in a phone call, he told Mumbai police chief Rakesh Maria, that his client is visibly bruised, and that on Saturday night, her meeting with her lawyers was conducted inexplicably in the presence of five policemen.  Sources say a formal complaint is unlikely to be filed today in the court where Ms Mukerjea will be brought along with the others arrested in the case – former husband Sanjeev Khanna, and driver Shyam Rai.

Ms Mukerjea was arrested a week ago  -the result of an anonymous phone call and three months of surveillance- for allegedly strangling Ms Bora, then setting her body on fire in 2012. Till her arrest, Ms Mukerjea, who is married to TV tycoon Peter Mukerjea, had maintained that Ms Bora was her younger sister who had relocated to the United States to study.

At the time, Ms Bora was engaged to Peter Mukerjea’s son from an earlier marriage, Rahul Mukerjea.  

Police sources say their investigation has looked at two possible motives for the killing. The young couple’s parents had expressed their disapproval of the relationship between step-siblings; the other strand of inquiry is a financial dispute, allegedly ceded during interrogation by Ms Mukerjea, who has reportedly confessed that she “hated” Ms Bora but didn’t murder her.

The second of her three husbands- Sanjeev Khanna- has allegedly confessed to his role in the killing, stating that Ms Mukerjea led him to believe that the daughter they share, 17-year-old Vidhie, was likely to be killed by Ms Bora and her brother, Mekhail.

Ms Mukerjea, according to her son, tried to have him killed on different occasions, including on the day that Ms Bora was killed. 

Indrani Mukerjea Being Mistreated by Cops, Lawyers Allege

1:51 AM

In '65 War, His Plane Crashed in Pak. Then, a Great Escape.

In the early part of the 1965 war with Pakistan, Dara Phiroze Chinoy, a young Flying Officer with the Indian Air Force found himself suddenly trapped behind enemy lines. 

“An anti-aircraft shell had exploded into my engine and the engine flamed out. The aircraft was on fire and there was smoke and flames in the cockpit. I couldn’t see anything,” Chinoy, now 70, told NDTV in his house in Bengaluru.

His story is one of the greatest wartime escapes by any Indian in any war fought by India.  



 

Dara Phiroze Chinoy as a young IAF pilot

 

On September 10, 1965, Flying Officer Dara Chinoy, a 20-year-old Parsi from Mumbai, was flying French-built Dassault Mystere fighter-bombers out of the Adampur Air base in Punjab. He was a rookie, having been commissioned just two years earlier. Then his unit was tasked to take out a Pakistani artillery position just across the border in Pakistani Punjab. According to Chinoy, “There was a gun position harassing our Army and they had to keep their heads down. They were trying to cross the Ichhogil canal but they couldn’t because of these heavy artillery guns which were keeping them down. We were supposed to destroy one of these targets [located] in South Pakistan.”

 

Eager to rush into battle with his Squadron Mates, the young Flying Officer didn’t bother to grab a quick bite, or for that matter, drink a drop of water, something that nearly cost him his life in the hours ahead.

 

“As we pulled up for the attack on the gun position, I felt a solid thud in the bottom of my aircraft”. With his fighter jet on fire (there was no co-pilot), Chinoy ejected.

 

Chinoy has cheated death three times in a little more than the last fifty years.

Floating to the ground with his parachute, he very nearly made an easy target. “On the way down, they were firing at me with rifles. I could hear the zing of the rifle shots as I could also hear the loud booming of the anti-aircraft guns. As I landed, escaping the gunfire from the rifles, they were shouting saying ‘Maaro’ (kill) and using abusive language.”

With his heart in his mouth, the young pilot ran for his life. “They chased me on jeeps and on foot but, fortunately, the crops were not being attended to and the grass was tall. It was a sugarcane field with grass and sugarcane growing upto six feet high, so I was dodging them like a rabbit. I managed to dodge them by heading North, keeping the setting sun to my left. They expected me to head East.”  



 



But the game was far from over. Chinoy realised that the only real opportunity to hot-foot it across the border and get into India would be under the cover of darkness. “I waited for the sun to set. There was the moon rising at the same time as the sun set (in) those days, so that guided me towards the East. I burnt all my authentication sheets and maps and removed all shiny objects.”

Alternating between running, jogging and walking for the next five hours, Chinoy was tired, his throat parched and his legs and back aching because of the force of the ejection he had undergone hours earlier. “My greatest fear was that I would fall unconscious because of a lack of water – dehydration – and whoever found my unconscious body would kill me and ask questions later.”



 



Eventually, he regained his strength after finding a well where he drank to his heart’s content. But there was hardly a moment to waste. Swimming across canals, some deep, and running some more, avoiding villagers and stray dogs along his hastily-improvised route, Dara Chinoy came finally across what looked like the Amritsar-Batala highway.  



 



But he wasn’t sure. And even if this was India, the danger was not behind him. “At dawn, I came across some soldier talking in a South Indian language. I challenged them first saying ‘kaun hain vahan? (who goes there)’? Of course, [within moments] they had me kneeling at gunpoint with my hands raised. I said I was Flying Officer Chinoy. They asked for ID.” But the young fighter pilot had none to show – he had destroyed or thrown away all personal identification when he was behind enemy lines.  



 



Eventually, he was freed and allowed to return to his Unit. Back at his base in Adampur in Punjab, Chinoy received a raucous welcome. “My roommate, in good humour, said ‘Oh no, he’s back"”.  



 

Dara Phiroze Chinoy with Squadronmates

 

And within days, Chinoy was back in the thick of action flying over Pakistan.

 

Remarkably, Chinoy who retired as Group Captain, has cheated death three times in a little more than the last fifty years. Even before his ordeal in 1965, Chinoy, just a trainee-pilot in 1964, ejected from an Ouragan fighter over the Brahmaputra river after his jet developed a serious loss of control problem with a runaway electric trimmer (a key control system in the aircraft). In 1987, Chinoy faced another life and death situation when he had to eject from a MiG-21 after a bird hit to his jet.

 

But his love for aviation remained steady. For several years, Dara Chinoy continued flying as a civilian pilot, clocking thousands of hours operating corporate aircraft belonging to the Tatas and the Ambanis. 

In '65 War, His Plane Crashed in Pak. Then, a Great Escape.

1:39 AM