Bharuch:

A 35-year-old man out on bail allegedly raped a 70-year-old woman whom he had sexually assaulted in the past in Bharuch district of Gujarat, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, Shailesh Rathod, committed the crime on December 15 and December 22 in the old woman’s hut at a farm, said Deputy Superintendent of Police PL Chaudhary.

The accused also threatened the victim with dire consequences if she disclosed the matter, he said.

An FIR was registered at Amod police station after the woman approached the police, following which teams of the crime branch, Special Operations Group, and police were formed to catch the accused.

Shailesh Rathod was earlier arrested for allegedly raping the same victim around 18 months ago and jailed. He committed the latest crime while out on bail, the police officer said.

Recently, an 11-year-old daughter of a migrant labourer was raped in Bharuch district. The victim, who suffered injuries to her internal organs during the sexual assault, died after almost a week. The accused was arrested.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ahmedabad:

A couple from Rajasthan was detained at Ahmedabad airport for allegedly trying to smuggle two high-end watches worth approximately Rs 13 crore from Dubai on Friday, officials in the Customs Department said on Sunday.

The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Richard Mille watches, mostly spotted on the wrists of billionaires or celebrities, were seized from the man and the woman, who arrived separately at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport from Dubai. 

According to the officials, one of them spotted the woman with one of the watches on her arrival from Dubai. Upon interrogation, she said it was gifted by her husband. When she was asked about her husband’s whereabouts, she said he was arriving on another flight.

The woman’s husband, the officials said, was caught when he was trying to exit the airport on his arrival. He initially claimed that the watch belonged to him and that it cost around Rs 1,000. When he was asked to produce a bill, he said he did not have one. 

As authorities searched his belongings, they found the case for the watch. The man then admitted to smuggling the item, the officials said. 

The couple was subsequently detained and upon interrogation, said they belong to Pratapgarh in Rajasthan. They said they were made to travel to Dubai to bring the watches to Ahmedabad, the officials added. 

The officials said a detailed probe is underway.

(With inputs from Mahendra Prasad)

Junagadh:

Seven persons, including four college students, headed to a village to appear for an exam, were killed when two cars collided in Gujarat’s Junagadh district on Monday, police said.

The incident occurred on the Junagadh-Veraval Highway around 8 AM when a car jumped the road divider at high speed and crashed into another car coming from the opposite direction near Bhanduri village, said Deputy Superintendent of Police, Dinesh Kodiyatar.

“Due to an unknown reason, the car veered off the road and hit the road divider at high speed. The vehicle then crashed into another car coming from the opposite direction. All the seven passengers in both the cars died on the spot due to the collision,” Kodiyatar said.

The car coming from Keshod and heading towards Gadu village which jumped the road divider was carrying five persons, including four college students, while another car had two passengers.

The five passengers travelling in the car headed towards Gadu village were identified as driver Vaju Rathod (60) and four students – Vikram Kuvadia, Dharam Dhardev, Akshat Dave and Om Mugra.

The passengers travelling in another car were identified as Raju Khutan (40) and Vinu Vala (35).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ahmedabad:

A man and his wife were arrested in Ahmedabad in Gujarat after they sped off in their SUV with a policeman perched precariously on the bonnet of the vehicle as the couple tried to flee during a combing drive, an official said on Sunday.

The policeman was injured in the legs and hands and narrowly escaped being run over by a dumper after he fell off from the bonnet due to the SUV’s speed, he added.

“The driver tried to run over policemen when he was signalled to stop during a combing drive at 11:15pm on Saturday. In order to stop them, police personnel Nitesh Ramji clung on to the bonnet of the car. He was dragged for some distance by the SUV, leaving him with injuries on the hands and legs. When he fell, he was in danger of being crushed by a dumper, which braked in time,” the Chandkheda police station official said.

“Another policeman, who held on to the top of the half-opened window on the driver’s side, was also thrown off as the vehicle gathered speed. The man and his co-occupant, who is his wife, have been arrested on charges of attempt to murder and causing grievous hurt to a public servant. The woman had signalled to her husband to speed away,” the official informed.

Further probe into the incident is underway, the Chandkheda police station official said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi/Ahmedabad:

The arrest of a man on charges of raping and killing a 19-year-old woman in Gujarat has opened up a can of worms, with police officers saying that the accused committed at least four other murders, mostly on trains, across states in less than a month.

Rahul Karamveer Jat, a resident of Rohtak in Haryana, was arrested from Vapi Railway Station in Gujarat’s Valsad on November 24, after a massive search involving police units from various states and scanning of at least 2,000 CCTV cameras across several Gujarat districts.

Police said the accused, a Class 5 dropout who has confessed to the crimes, looted and murdered people whenever he found them alone, and raped women, especially in the coaches meant for differently-abled passengers. Getting a hold of him was tough since he kept moving and mostly slept at railway platforms and in trains.

“He was arrested on Sunday night in a joint operation carried out by local and railway police. Jat travelled extensively and kept changing his location. We have found that he is involved in at least four cases of loot and murder on trains and at railway stations in Karnataka, West Bengal, Telangana and Maharashtra,” Superintendent of Police (SP) Karanraj Vaghela said.

The skeletons tumbled out of the cupboard when the Valsad district police launched a probe into the murder of the woman, whose body was found near the tracks close to Udvada railway station on November 14. A forensic examination revealed that the woman was raped.

Police said as several search teams were formed, the accused was spotted on CCTVs at the railway station, wearing the same clothes that were recovered from the area where the woman’s body was found. The CCTV footage also showed Jat relishing some food, after committing the chilling crime, at the railway station.

“He had come here to collect his salary from a hotel where he worked, and raped and killed the woman during his visit. The woman was returning home from tuition when the incident occurred,” the SP said.

Police said Jat committed four other murders before and after raping and killing the woman.

Only a day before his arrest, the accused looted and murdered a woman on a train near Secunderabad railway station in Telangana. In October, he raped and murdered a woman on a train near Solapur railway station in Maharashtra. Later, he stabbed to death an elderly man on Katihar express train near Howrah railway station in West Bengal. He is also accused of murdering a train passenger in Mulki in Karnataka.

As the accused’s photograph was mapped with the national database of prisoners, police learnt that he was released from Jodhpur central jail earlier this year, where he was lodged in connection with a robbery case.

Jat’s father has passed away and his family has disowned him, police said. After quitting studies in Class 5, he engaged in various acts of loot in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. There are 13 first information reports (FIRs) registered against him.

(With inputs from Mahendra Prasad)

Bhavnagar:

A 32-year-old woman and her two minor daughters suffered serious burns after she set herself and the children on fire in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district on Wednesday, an official said.

Nayanaben Gohil, her nine-year-old daughter Pratiksha and the younger child Urvashi are battling for their lives at a government hospital after the incident in Hathab village, an official said. Police did not provide Urvashi’s age.

Her husband Bhavesh Gohil rushed the three to a nearby hospital in a private vehicle. They were then taken to a government hospital in Bhavnagar city, police said.

The woman has been admitted to the surgical intensive care unit (SICU), while the two girls are in the emergency ward of the trauma centre, the official said.

Police are yet to ascertain why Nayanaben took such a step, he said, adding that a probe is underway.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Rajkot:

At least ten hotels in Gujarat’s Rajkot city received bomb threat emails on Saturday, which turned out to be a hoax, police said.

The hotels received emails around 12.45 pm, prompting the police to search these premises thoroughly with the bomb disposal squad (BDS), said police inspector SM Jadeja of the Special Operations Group (SOG).

He said the sender of the threat email, identifying himself as Kan Den, claimed that he had planted bombs in 10 hotels, and they would go off in a few hours.

“However, nothing suspicious was found after a search operation that lasted nearly five hours,” Jadeja said.

The search concluded around 6 pm, he said, adding that a probe is underway to trace the sender.

“I placed bombs in every location of your hotel. The bombs will go off in a few hours. Many innocent lives will be lost today. Hurry up and evacuate the hotel,” the email stated.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Surat:

One of the two men arrested for allegedly raping a teenage girl in Gujarat’s Surat district died in a hospital after he complained of breathing difficulty in police custody on Thursday, an official said.

Shivshankar Chaurasia (45), named in murder and theft cases in the past, and Munna Paswan (40) were arrested on Wednesday for the alleged sexual assault on the minor.

“I am informed that Chaurasia had complained of difficulty in breathing at around 2.00 pm and was rushed to a health centre in the Kamrej area. He was then referred to the new civil hospital, where he died during treatment,” said Surat District Superintendent of Police Hitesh Joysar.

Police will produce Paswan before a court in the evening seeking his remand, he said.

According to the police, Paswan, Chaurasia and a third person, who is yet to be caught, allegedly raped a 17-year-old girl in Mangrol taluka on Tuesday night.

The teenager had gone to the Kim village to meet friends after attending her coaching class. She and her male friend were sitting in a deserted place on their way to a petrol pump along the highway near Mota Borsara village when three men approached them, police said.

While her friend escaped, the trio raped the minor before fleeing with her and her friend’s mobile phones. After being alerted, police registered a case for gang rape and other charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Paswan and Chaurasia were caught from a nearby location on Wednesday evening and cops had to open fire while taking the duo into custody, police had said in a release.

Police said several cases had been registered against the two in areas like Ankleshwar, Kadodara, Amirgadh and Karjan.

Chaurasia was booked in a murder case in 2017 in Ankleshwar and for theft in 2023 in Karjan. This year, he was booked under the Arms Act by the Amirgadh police station of Banaskantha.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Vadodara:

A teenage girl was allegedly raped by unidentified persons, who restrained her male friend, on a deserted stretch on the outskirts of Gujarat’s Vadodara city, police said on Saturday.

The alleged crime was committed on a Navratri night when revellers come out in large numbers to participate in garba events organised throughout the city.

The survivor told the police that she had gone out to meet her childhood male friend at the city’s Laxmipura area at around 11 pm, said Rohan Anand, Superintendent of Police – Vadodara (rural).

“They were returning through the Bhayli locality on a Scooty when at around midnight, five persons on two-wheelers intercepted them on an isolated road,” the police officer said.

Two of them left after some argument, while three others remained. Of these three, two individuals raped the teenage girl, while the third person restrained her male friend, he said.

“As soon as the culprits left, the teens informed the police. Cops reached the spot, cordoned off the area and collected evidence. Teams have been formed to identify the culprits using technical surveillance and other means,” Anand said.

The Gujarat government has lifted restrictions on garba celebration timings for this year’s Navratri festival.

In a similar crime, a 21-year-old woman was allegedly raped by three unidentified persons, who also tied her male friend using his clothes and belt and assaulted him, at an isolated place on the outskirts of Pune in Maharashtra on Thursday night, police had said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)