Latest news with #LocalCrimeBranch
Time of India
3 days ago
- General
- Time of India
Illegal arms making unit busted in Morbi house
Rajkot: Acting on a tip-off, the Local Crime Branch (LCB) of Morbi arrested a man, Salim Malani alias Miyana, from Chikhli village in Maliya Miyana taluka for allegedly running an illegal country-made firearm manufacturing unit from his residence. Another accused, Siddiq Kajediya alias Miyana, who purchased a firearm from him is currently absconding. During interrogation, Salim admitted that he had learned how to manufacture and repair firearms by watching YouTube videos. He revealed that he had been making 12-bore single-barrel country-made guns for the past two to three years using various tools in the backyard of his house. He also disclosed that he was currently engaged in both manufacturing and repairing these firearms for different clients. The police recovered two 12-bore single-barrel country-made guns, two electric welding machines, two electric grinder machines, one drill machine, iron rods and welding tools, two electric boards, sixty 12-bore cartridges, two plastic bottles containing gunpowder, 111 small iron pellets, welding goggles, scissors, and a metal roll container. During questioning, Salim confessed to having sold a firearm to Siddiq. He further stated that Siddiq had also left the weapon with him for repair. Based on this information, the police have filed a case against Siddiq as well under relevant sections of the Arms Act.
Time of India
4 days ago
- General
- Time of India
Nashik Rural police seize drugs worth 8.5L in month-long drive
Nashik: The Nashik rural police conducted a successful month-long operation in May, targeting the sale, consumption, and transportation of narcotic drugs and products across the district's rural areas. This initiative led to the seizure of narcotic products valued at Rs 8.49 lakh. During the drive, the police registered a total of 22 cases and arrested 29 individuals. Seized items included over 36 kg of ganja — valued at more than Rs 7.21 lakh. The police also confiscated 8,610 tablets of alprazolam, locally known as 'Kutta Goli', worth Rs 1.14 lakh. Additionally, 50 bottles of 100 ml Codeine phosphate, valued at Rs 9,500, and over 4 kg of Bhang, worth more than Rs 3,000, were seized. Senior police officials confirmed that this special drive was undertaken under the guidance of Nashik Range IG (Special) Dattatray Karale. Personnel from all 40 police stations of Nashik Rural and the Local Crime Branch intensified their intelligence gathering efforts concerning drug sales and consumption. Throughout the month, the police also identified eight individuals who were found smoking ganja. A senior police officer, while talking to TOI, said under the guidance of SP Balasaheb Patil more activities have been planned to eliminate the menace of drugs from the rural district. "Alprazolam tablets are sold clandestinely in Malegaon on a large scale. We are keeping a special focus on the sale of these tablets in the town, apart from the smuggling of other drugs and banned products in the rural district," the officer said. Patil, additional SP of Malegaon Teghbir Singh Sandhu, and other senior officers have appealed to the in-charge officers of all the police stations to go all out to eliminate the menace of drugs from the rural district.
Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Gujarat: Days before bail hearing in second case, third FIR against Hiralba in Junagadh
A third FIR , this time by the Junagadh police, has been lodged against Hiralba Jadeja, the sister-in-law of late Santokben 'Godmother' Jadeja and the aunt of incumbent Kutiyana MLA Kandhal Jadeja, for allegedly opening three shell firms and opening at least 22 benami bank accounts. In the latter half of May, Hiralba got bail in a Rs 70 lakh extortion case in Porbandar but had to remain in judicial custody in the second case against her by Porbandar police, that of allegedly setting up benami bank accounts and receiving proceeds of crime from cyber frauds. The bail hearing for this second case is due on June 3. But just four days before this hearing, the third FIR was filed against Hiralba for allegedly opening three shell firms in the names of other accused persons, having them run shops in the name of these corporate entities and opening at least 22 benami bank, accounts of which at least 11 are named in cybercrime complaints across various parts of India, as recipients of proceeds of crime, said Police Inspector JJ Patel of the Local Crime Branch (LCB) of Junagadh Police. The latest FIR, filed on the basis of a complaint by PSI HJ Barad on behalf of the State, at Junagadh Range Cybercrime Police station on May 30, booked Hiralba Jadeja, Naitik Mavani, Sachin Mehta and Hitesh Odedara (also accused in other two cases with Hiralba). The accused have been booked under BNS Sections 336(2) (forgery), 336(3) (forgery with intent to cheat), 338 (forgery of valuable documents), 340(2) (forged documents or electronic records), 318(4) (cheating), 317(2) (possession of stolen property), 317(4) (stolen property) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) and under The Information Technology Act. Police officials in Junagadh said that they received information from Porbandar Police about three 'suspicious bank accounts that had been traced back to Hiralba Jadeja and were being operated from Junagadh', following which a preliminary investigation was done by the Local Crime Branch, leading to the third FIR. The FIR stated that a firm named Arham Commodities operated eight bank accounts while another firm Vitthal Pulse Commodities operated another eight bank accounts, and Bharat Enterprise operated six accounts across nine banks. Police investigation allegedly found that there were 83 cybercrime complaints filed against several of these bank accounts on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) and Samanvay Portal across 17 states and one UT. The FIR stated that the police got in touch with the three men listed as proprietors of Arham Commodities, Vitthal Pulse Commodities, and Bharat Enterprise, who all allegedly pointed to Hiralba Jadeja and the other three accused of having setting up the firms and the associated bank accounts without their knowledge. LCB Inspector JJ Patel said that details of the money transactions in the 22 bank accounts had been sought from the nine banks and further investigation had been handed over to the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Junagadh Police. Case History On April 30, Hiralba Jadeja, a member of the powerful political clan of Kutiyana in Porbandar, was booked by Harbour Marine police on charges of abduction, extortion and criminal intimidation among other sections of the BNS after Leelu Kuchhadiya, who is in Israel, posted a video since viral on social media, claiming that her husband Bhanu and minor son Ranjit had been abducted by Jadeja and others for about 17 days and made to sign several blank cheques, demanding a sum of Rs 70 lakh from them. She was subsequently arrested on May 1, 2025. On May 15, Hiralba Jadeja was booked along with five others in an FIR filed by PSI VR Chavda on behalf of the State, at the cybercrime police station in Porbandar district, for controlling several mule bank accounts registered in the name of poor people. These bank accounts were prima facie found to contain proceeds of crime. The number of these alleged benami bank accounts was found to be at least 50 during the probe. She was arrested in this case on May 20, 2025. According to Porbandar Police DySP Surjeet Mahedu, Jadeja received bail in the extortion case on May 26 but continued to remain in Porbandar Jail in the second case. The bail application in this cybercrime case is up for hearing in a local Porbandar court on June 3, 2025.
Indian Express
13-05-2025
- Indian Express
‘Benefit of doubt': Amreli court acquits nine Dalit protesters accused of murder, rioting in Una flogging case
A sessions court in Amreli district has acquitted nine persons belonging to Dalit community — who had carried out a protest against Una public flogging incident in 2016 — charged with murder of a head constable, rioting, damage to public property while giving them 'benefit of doubt' and pointing out the glaring discrepancies in evidence of the case. The prosecution 'has failed in bringing on record chained evidence which can support the facts of complainant's complaint,' stated the court. The judgment was pronounced Monday by the court of 4th Additional District and Sessions Judge of Amreli, Dharmendra Shrivastav. The case pertains to a rally carried out by the Dalits in Amreli on July 19, 2016 against the public flogging of seven members of family on July 11, the same year, in Gir-Somnath district's Una by self-styled cow vigilantes for skinning the carcass of a cow. The said rally was part of a series of protests organised by Dalits across Gujarat to protest the Una flogging incident. The court acquitted Ramesh Babariya, Ramesh Vijuda, Naran Vanjara, Shailesh Vala, Bhanu Vanjara, Manjula Vanjara, Kanti Vala, Navchetan Parmar and Ripal Chavda in the case. Notably, the rally was organised after Navchetan Parmar had taken permission of the authorities. Head constable Pankaj Amreliya, who died during the protest rally, was at that time attached with Local Crime Branch. Amreli city police had registered the case on the basis of a complaint lodged by the then in-charge Police Inspector of Amreli City Police Station H M Ramavat. As per the prosecution's case, the rally was carried out in Amreli town between 11 am and 2 pm to protest the Una public flogging incident and other alleged atrocities committed against the Dalit community in the state. The prosecution stated that the protesters allegedly changed the rally route and attacked public properties. To control the situation, the police resorted to lathi charge and firing of tear gas shells, followed by stone pelting during which some Dalit protesters allegedly hit Amreliya with stones, resulting in his death. Some other policemen had also sustained injuries during the incident. During the proceedings, the sessions court acquitted all the accused on 'benefit of doubt' while highlighting some glaring discrepancies in the prosecution's evidence. The court observed that collectively looking at the testimonies of all the police witnesses in the case, there are some important contradictions about the place and time of the alleged incident. 'If we keep the entire evidence of police witnesses in sight, they give facts of being present at the time of incident at the spot, (however) contradictory facts are coming out (in) their own testimonies. So, if the incident as told by the prosecution has indeed happened, it has not been able to prove it beyond reasonable doubt,' the court observed in its judgment. The prosecution had also accused Parmar, one of the accused, of instigating the mob. However, the court recorded in the judgment that records did appear before it in which Parmar was seen making an appeal to maintain peace and not to resort to violence. '…It does not come out from the record that the accused (Parmar)…made provocative speech because of which the mob went uncontrolled and did vandalism…on the contrary, looking at records, it appears that he is making an appeal for peace,' the court observed. The court also took note of the fact that Parmar had informed the district police head that some 'anti-social' and 'political' elements had sneaked in the rally. In the FIR, the police had named 16 persons as accused from the mob of over 700 persons. However, later records appeared proving that some of them were not present at the scene of the incident, but outside Amreli. So, eventually, the police did not file a chargesheet against them. Total 10 accused were chargesheeted and one of them died during the trial. Raising a doubt over the police investigation, the court also noted that no stones, with blood stains or without it, were recovered from the spot. 'It creates an important suspicion that if the deceased (head constable) died of injuries sustained by stone pelting, why didn't the investigating officer recover the stones with blood stains,' the court observed. As per the prosecution, the head constable had died as he was allegedly hit by stones by some of the accused. However, the court took notice of the medical evidence submitted by two doctors who had stated that 'no injury was found anywhere on the body of the deceased that suggest that he died of injuries sustained in stone pelting or by someone hitting him on face with stone'. The accused were represented by advocates Farooq Musani, Udayan Trivedi and Nitin Bhatt. According to Musani, it was their defence that Amreliya did not die of stone injury. 'When they (police) came on a Bolero, Amreliya was standing on a step (of the vehicle) and he tried to alight from the moving vehicle. He fell down and his head crashed with the (road) divider. And one of the eye witnesses too narrated this incident before the court.' Trivedi said, 'The rally, from beginning till end, was admittedly videographed by police. However, the (alleged) incident of Amreliya's murder was not recorded anywhere in the videography.' The court in its order stated: 'If all the evidence that have come on record are thoroughly evaluated, then it becomes clear that there is primafacie contradictions between facts mentioned in the complainant's complaint, complainant's evidence on oath and other witnesses' evidence. Therefore, it is concluded that the prosecution has failed in bringing on record chained evidence which can support the facts of complainant's complaint.'
Hindustan Times
07-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
'Deva Bhau' tattoo helps Thane rural police identify the victim, crack murder case
THANE: The Shahapur police and the Local Crime Branch of the Thane rural police cracked a murder case after an unidentified man whose body was found dumped near Umbarrakhand village, located near Kasara, along the Mumbai-Nashik highway on April 30. The accused, two of them contract killers, were arrested on Monday. (Shutterstock) The deceased was identified as Ashok Sukhdev, 28, a resident of Sinnar tehsil in Nashik district. Around 11.30am on April 30, residents of the village noticed his body lying amid the roadside bushes with stab wounds, indicating a violent murder, said a police officer. A case was registered for murder and causing the disappearance of evidence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, against unknown persons. A joint team of Shahapur police and Thane Local Crime Branch launched an investigation. Guided by a single clue of a tattoo on his hand which read 'Deva Bhau' the police began to trace his identity. 'We had very little to go on at first, but our team focused on the smallest clues — especially the tattoo. That, along with technology and public help, led us to the accused,' said Suresh Manore, police inspector attached to the Thane rural LCB. Another officer said forensic analysis of the deceased, and state-wide coordination also helped them identify him. Photographs of the body were circulated on police WhatsApp groups and crime-focused digital platforms. They learnt a missing person complaint was filed in Sinnar for Sukhdev. Finally, the police could pin him down from a video uploaded to a local online crime news portal, which showed a man matching Sukhdev's description. CCTV footage helped the police narrow down potential suspects. Police said that during interrogation, two of them –Wasim Pathan, 32, and Rahul Gunjal, 25 – admitted to the murder. They told the police that a woman named Sheetal Fodse, a resident of Igatpuri, hired them to kill Sukhdev. Fodse was involved in an extramarital affair with Sukhdev. When he began pressuring her to marry him, she allegedly conspired with the killers to get rid of him, said the officer. The killers allegedly lured Sukhdev to a secluded location in his village and fatally stabbed him. They then abandoned his body near the Mumbai-Nashik highway to cover up the crime and destroy evidence.
