Category: City News

Telangana road accident turns out to be murder over affair

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HYDERABAD: Khammam police on Sunday claimed to have cracked a triple murder case which was initially believed to be a case of  road accident nearly a month earlier.

Raghunadapalem police said that on May 28, bodies of B Kumari and her two daughters — Kruthika (3) and Krushika (4) — were found inside a car after it hit a tree. Initially, it was thought to be a road accident and that driver B Praveen escaped with injuries.

However, during the probe, the woman’s husband Praveen turned out to be the accused.

The bodies were sent for post-mortem examination after the projected road accident. Meanwhile, Kumari’s family members suspected foul play in the incident. The forensic experts, after conducting PME, concluded that it was a case of triple murder. The doctors said Kumari died due to overdose of anaesthesia and the two girls were smothered to death.

Khammam Police took Kumari’s husband onto the custody and interrogated him. During the questioning, Praveen admitted to killing his wife and children.

Accused Praveen admitted to the police that he was staying with his family in Hyderabad and was working in a hospital. He was in an illicit relationship with a female nurse. “The accused used to do night shift frequently and it was during this time he got into the relationship. Knowing about the affair, Kumari took objection and informed his parents. After warning him, his father asked him to move to Khammam, his native place,” local police said.

Though the accused shifted to his native place along with this family, he continued to be in touch with the nurse. Later, he conspired to eliminate his wife and children to pave the way for his relationship with the nurse. The accused, before moving to Khammam, illegally took anesthesia in a vile.

On the day of the murder, the accused and his family were going in a car. In the past, Kumari used to ask her husband to give her calcium medicines. In the pretext of giving calcium medicine, he gave overdose of anaesthesia on her wrist while she was sitting in the rear seat of the car. Due to overdose of anesthesia, Kumari died.

Subsequently, Praveen smothered his two daughters to death. Following this, he drove the car against a tree and projected as accidental deaths of family.

NGRI scientists unravel geological link between India and Antarctica

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HYDERABAD: A team of scientists from city-based National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) has made a new discovery that sheds light on the ancient between the Indian subcontinent and Antarctica. Their research provides compelling evidence of a collision between India and East Antarctica over a billion years ago.

The NGRI team, including Dr K Chandrakala, OP Pandey, Biswajit Mandal, K Renuka, and N Prem Kumar, has revealed the presence of a hidden ridge beneath Darsi and Addanki regions of AP.

This structure is attributed to the historic collision, and the study also suggests that the Cuddapah basin had tilted towards the south. Moreover, the region shows signs of historical seismic activity, indicating the possibility of a marginal ocean basin along the east coast during the Columbia and Rodinia supercontinent assembly periods.

By reprocessing seismic data along a 325-km profile from Alampur to Ganapeswaram, the team investigated the subsurface crustal seismic structure of the north Cuddapah basin. Their findings revealed a thin layer of alluvium underlain by Gondwana sediments and Proterozoic sedimentary layers. Gondwana was an ancient supercontinent that included present-day South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica.

“Our research has uncovered that Proterozoic sedimentation in the study region was more extensive than previously known,” the NGRI scientists told TOI. “We have identified both the upper and lower Proterozoic Cuddapah sediments, resting directly over the crystalline basement. This provides new insights into the geological evolution of India’s eastern coast during the Proterozoic period,” they added.

The research was published in the ‘Journal of Pure and Applied Geophysics’.

 

Akali crisis is slippery turf for Akal Takht Jathedar too

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The Akal Takht Jathedar calls a meeting to discuss dissident Akali Dal leaders seeking apology, raising credibility concerns. Past controversial decisions and political influences have weakened authority. The current crisis presents challenges in maintaining fairness and finding solutions to complex issues.

JALANDHAR: As the Akal Takht Jathedar  , Giani Raghbir Singh, has called a meeting of five high priests on Monday to discuss the letter given by the dissident Akali Dal leaders seeking apology for the mistakes which implicate SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, the Sikh clergy will also be walking on a slippery turf while working on the multi-layered issue.

The Akali leadership, including Sukhbir’s camp as well as the dissidents, has been facing a credibility crisis in the Sikh community . The Sikh high priests too have been facing credibility issues, especially due to some of their decisions and the way these were taken in the last some years, which led to an erosion of their authority.

Though Akal Takht is considered the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs, it has become clear that its jathedar can’t expect that directive or decision, issued by the high priests, would be accepted as the last word by the Sikh community, unless it is perceived fair and taken with due dilligence.

When the then Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh and other high priests unilaterally “pardoned” Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in Sept 2015, there was widespread criticism of the decision and protests by the Sikhs. This move brought the credibility and authority of the Akal Takht Jathedar to the lowest ebb. A few weeks later, the Jathedar had to rescind this controversial decision. Now, almost nine years later, the former Jathedar still faces criticism along with a few other unpopular decisions of his time.

On a few occasions, before and after the 2015 controversy, decisions made by the high priests have been facing criticism from within the community. The erosion in the authority of the Akal Takht Jathedar started after the then Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh was unceremoniously sacked from the post by 10 SGPC executive committee in 1999. They had announced the appointment of the new acting Jathedar from Circuit House in Amritsar. It has been well documented that they were working as per the wishes of the then chief minister and SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal. Since then a strong impression was created in the community that the jathedars and SGPC work according to the wishes of the Akali Dal top brass, especially the Badals. What complicates the matter for the incumbent jathedar is that the “mistakes” dissident Akali leaders have pleaded guilty for also involve former Jathedar Gurbachan Singh and other high priests.

Moreover, religious as well political challenges before the Sikh community have grown and there does not appear a linear solution to this much-complicated crisis. The situation appears to be very delicate. The jathedar faces the challenge not only of appearing fair but also of finding an imaginative solution to the unprecedented crisis, when the community fears losing its own political organisation, the Akali Dal, through which it practised its politics for close to a century. In the past, the Akal Takht Jathedar, SGPC and SADl would actively engage with Sikh intellectuals but in the last few years a distance has grown between these institutions and the intelligentsia of the community.

 

Bengaluru: Two teens killed as car driven by minor hits median

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Two teenagers lose their lives in a car accident on STRR in Bengaluru, while two others sustain minor injuries. The incident occurred during a joyride in the early hours of Sunday. Police are investigating the case and looking for the truck involved in the collision.

BENGALURU: A jolly drive by four teenagers proved costly as two of the boys were killed, while the two others had a narrow escape, when their car hit the median on the Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR) near Attibele in the wee hours of Sunday. The car was driven by a minor.

The deceased are Siddarath, 14 and Harshavardhana, 17. The other two boys suffered minor injuries. All boys are residents of Kempapura, near Hebbal. Siddarath was a class 9 student, while Harshavardhana was a PUC student in a private college.
Citing preliminary investigation, police said the incident happened a km away from Attibele on STRR around 3.30am. The boys were driving a Hyundai Accent car. A passer-by, who noticed the car, alerted the police.
CK Baba, superintendent of police, Bengaluru District, said that the incident happened when the boys were trying to overtake a truck and another vehicle. They were driving in between the two vehicles and the truck hit the car on its rear. Due to the impact, their car then hit the metal beam crash barrier of the highway.
A case has been registered at Sulibele police station against the minor, who was driving and the owner of the vehicle (his father). Siddarath and Harshavardhana were sitting on the rear seat. The injured were in the front.
Harshavardhana’s father, a businessman, has filed a complaint. According to the parents, the boys left their homes late on Saturday night. They claim that they were not aware that their children were on a jolly drive throughout the night. Sulibele police have found that the boys had visited a well-known biriyani hotel in Hoskote and, were returning home. The police are yet to verify the documents of the car like registration, fitness certificate and insurance.
The bodies were handed over to the family after a postmortem. “The parents are disturbed over the incident. So, we didn’t question them much. They will be called again on Monday or Tuesday after the final rites for further enquiry,” he added.