Indore:

A 60-year-old man was arrested in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday for allegedly killing a woman after a failed rape attempt, dismembering her body and dumping the parts in two trains, a police official said.

Accused Kamlesh Patel had lured her to his house when she was sitting at a railway station on June 6, the official said.

“The woman had left her home on June 6 after a fight with her husband. The woman was sitting at Ujjain railway station to go to Mathura when Patel lured her to his house and spiked her food with sleeping pills. He tried to rape her but she got up and raised an alarm.,” Railway Superintendent of Police Santosh Kori said.

“Patel strangled her, cut her body into pieces and placed it in the Indore-Nagda and Indore-Dehradun passenger trains. The hands and legs of the 37-year-old victim were found in a train in Rishikesh in Uttarakhand on June 10, while the rest of the body was recovered from a train in Indore on June 9,” he said.

Meanwhile, a missing person complaint was filed by her family in Bilpank police station in Ratlam district on June 12, Kori said.

Patel was held from Ujjain and the knife used in the crime has been recovered along with other evidence, the SP added.

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

Gwalior:

A couple has allegedly abandoned their three minor children, including a nearly two months old boy, at the Gwalior railway station in Madhya Pradesh, police said on Sunday.

The two girls, aged 6 and 7, and the boy, who had burn injuries, were found abandoned near the booking counter on Friday night, Railway Protection Force (RPF) police station in-charge Sanjay Arya told PTI.

The boy was immediately admitted to the government-run Kamla Raja hospital while the two girls were sent to a shelter home with the help of the women and child development department, he said.

The official said the girls told the police that they travelled in different trains for the previous two-three days with their parents who left after abandoning them while they were sleeping.

The girls also informed that they came here from Dholpur (Rajasthan), he said.

Some auto-rickshaw drivers confirmed the children were with their parents when they came here, the official said.

The police were examining CCTV footage of the area and search was on for the children’s parents, he said.

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

Bhopal:

Two employees of a toll plaza in Madhya Pradesh fell into a well and drowned as they were running to save themselves during an attack by masked gunmen, allegedly over a toll tax dispute. The bodies of Agra’s Srinivas Parihar and Nagpur’s Shivaji Kandele were recovered from the well yesterday.

The incident, police have said, took place around 10 pm on Tuesday. Chilling footage from CCTV cameras at Dagrai toll plaza on National Highway – 44 show masked men on four bikes ride near the toll booths. They then start kicking at the doors of toll counters and some manage to enter the booths. The assailants are seen damaging computers, beating up the toll plaza staff and trying to drag them out.

The staff, it is learnt, ran into the adjoining field to save their lives when the assailants started firing in the air. As they ran, Parihar and Kandele fell into an uncovered well right behind the office and drowned.

The contract of the toll plaza between Jhansi and Gwalior changed on April 1, and it passed on to a new contractor. Some locals, it is learnt, had an understanding with the previous contractor and their vehicles allegedly cleared the toll booth without payment. The new contractor refused to play ball. This sparked a dispute and Tuesday night’s attack was planned to terrorise the new contractor, say reports.

A officer said a case has been registered against unidentified persons and probe is on.

Toll tax is a charge vehicle owners need to pay for using some expressways, tunnels, bridges etc. The amount is used for repair and maintenance. The charges vary depending on the size of the vehicle. 

Guna:

A 25-year-old man belonging to the nomadic community Pardi died after he was shot for resisting a bid to allegedly kidnap his sister in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district, an official said.

The incident took place in the Dharnavada area, about 40 km from the district headquarters, police said.

Dharampal Pardi was shot in the foot by a person after he objected to an alleged attempt to kidnap his sister, said Sub-Inspector Rajendra Singh, the in-charge of Dharnavada police station.

A profusely bleeding Dharampal Pardi was rushed to a nearby hospital, which referred him to Bhopal for better medical care.

The victim died while being taken to the state capital, he said.

Police have registered a case of murder against seven to eight individuals and efforts are on to arrest them, the official said, adding that the crime seems to be the fallout of an old enmity.

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

Bhopal:

The house of the man accused of raping a teenage girl in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain will be demolished tomorrow, as it was allegedly built illegally.

Videos of a 15-year-old girl, semi-naked and bleeding, going door-to-door for help, sparked outrage across the country last week. 

The accused, Bharat Soni, an auto-rickshaw driver, was arrested in the case on Thursday. Bharat is currently in jail awaiting trial. His family has been living in the house on government land for years, the Ujjain Municipal Corporation said.

Municipal Commissioner Roshan Singh said that the land belongs to the government and therefore no notice is needed for its demolition. The municipal body will take action tomorrow in collaboration with the Madhya Pradesh police. Bharat was caught after a long investigation that involved reviewing footage from nearly 700 CCTV cameras.

“30-35 people were involved in the investigation. No one slept for three or four days,” Ajay Verma, a senior police officer, told NDTV.

‘Shockwaves’

On September 26, videos went viral on social media showing a minor girl, haggard, bleeding, and begging for help. A CCTV camera on Badnagar Road, about 15 km from Ujjain, captured the girl, draped in rags, going door-to-door, seeking assistance. The chilling footage, that sent shockwaves across the country, showed people shooing the girl away, as she approached them one after the other. 

READ |In Ujjain Rape Case, Those Who Didn’t Help Teen May Face Charges: Police

The minor girl, exhausted and traumatised with her body barely covered by a tattered cloth, aimlessly wandered the streets. Word of her agony reached an ashram not far from her location. A priest there, sensing that she had been sexually assaulted, draped her in a towel and rushed her to the nearby hospital. The medical examination confirmed her fears: she had been raped.

The girl’s injuries were severe, so she was rushed to Indore for specialised medical care. Police officers volunteered to donate blood when she needed it.

The accused, Bharat, was arrested three days later. The accused attempted to flee while reenacting the crime scene to collect evidence, including torn clothing but was swiftly caught. 

“We reached the spot to recover the clothes worn by the girl. Sensing an opportunity, Bharat Soni tried to escape. Police personnel chased and caught him. During this, he fell on a cemented road, injuring his arms and legs,” the police said.

‘Should Be Hanged’

Bharat’s father has called for the death penalty for his son, while the local bar association has urged its members to refuse to represent him in court.

“It is a shameful act. Neither have I gone to hospital to meet him, no will I go to the police station or courts. My son has committed a crime, therefore he should be hanged,” his father said.

Repercussions

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is gearing up for assembly elections in the state scheduled in November this year, vowed to prosecute the accused to the fullest extent of the law.

“The victim is the daughter of Madhya Pradesh. We will take care of her in every way. She is my daughter, as well as the state’s daughter and we will ensure that the accused gets stringent punishment,” he declared.

READ | “She Could’ve Been My Child”: Ujjain Rape Accused’s Father Seeks Death Penalty

The horrific incident has provided additional fodder to opposition parties to question the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led state government which is under pressure for its dismal record on violence against women.

According to National Crime Records Bureau data, Madhya Pradesh, with 6,462 cases, reported the most number of rape incidents in the country in 2021. Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have reported the highest number of cases of disappearance of women and girls between 2019 and 2021. Of all the reported rape cases, 50 per cent were crimes against minors, NCRB data states. 

Sagar:

Three persons were arrested in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar city on Thursday after a video showing a woman being brutally thrashed at a bus stand went viral.

She was apparently deranged, a senior police official said.

The woman was dragged, beaten with sticks and kicked in the face even as her five-month-old infant lay on the ground nearby, the video showed.

Praveen Raikwar (26), Vicky Yadav (20) and Rakesh Prajapathi (40) were arrested by Gopalganj police on Thursday, said Additional Superintendent of Police Lokesh Sinha.

According to local sources, police paraded the accused on the road while taking them to the court which sent them in judicial custody.

As per the preliminary probe, the incident took place on the intervening night of August 12-13.

The middle-aged woman went to buy milk from the canteen at the bus stand. Something happened and three men in the canteen thrashed her, police said.

The video showed her begging for mercy and crying ‘Bhaiyya.. Bhaiyya’. The people around were heard asking the accused not to beat her.

Sagar Superintendent of Police Abhishek Tiwari claimed that the woman appeared to be deranged. Probe was on, he added.

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