Ahmedabad:

A foetus, nestled among an empty packet of cigarettes, balloons and dust, was abandoned near a drain in Gujarat’s Surat. Carrion-eating birds were hovering over it. A group of children threw stones to disperse the birds and raised an alarm when they realised that there’s an infant. The police were called in.

The infant, a girl child, was rushed to the civil hospital but the doctors declared the child dead on arrival.

The incident was reported from Surat’s Apekshanagar on January 9.

The search led police to the doorstep of a 16-year-old girl.

“Initially, her mother and the person who delivered the child both said no. The police persisted and the 16-year-old was taken for a medical examination at the New Civil Hospital where a doctor confirmed that she had delivered a child,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone 4 Vijay Singh Gurjar.

Upon investigation, said the police officer, it was revealed that the girl is only a 16-year-old and even attended school till January 3.

Upon further inquiry, the girl revealed that she met a 17-year-old boy on Instagram and they became friends.

“Both of them came in contact with each other through Instagram. That boy lived in a rented house in Pandesara, an industrial area in Surat, and they had physical relations in that house due to which the girl became pregnant,” said the police officer.

Upon learning that the girl is pregnant, the boy, originally from Uttar Pradesh, first ran away home and then to Mumbai, said the police.

“From Mumbai, the boy sent her a packet of tablets to end pregnancy. She took two tablets and had a miscarriage at home. She threw the foetus away,” said the police officer quoting the girl.

“We have taken their (boy and girl) DNA samples and an investigation is underway,” the officer said.

The boy will be produced before a Juvenile Justice Board, said the cop.

(With inputs from Mahendra Prasad)

 

A windowpane of a train headed from Surat to Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh was damaged after a stone or stones struck its laminated glass surface while it was passing through Jalgaon in Maharashtra, showed a video, sparking fear among devotees.

The incident was reported from the B6 coach – which carried 13 people – women, children and devotees – of the Prayagraj Tapti Ganga Express. 

“Today we have left for Prayagraj from Surat Udhna. Today is 12th January. All the passengers are with us. At least 3 km ahead of Jalgaon, a stone was thrown by some anti-social elements. We request the Railway Minister to provide security to us,” said Rajendfra Gupta, a passenger in the affected coach, showing the damaged window. 

The video of the incident is steadily going viral on social media.

Around 45 per cent of the people in the train are going to Prayagraj for Maha Kumbh.

The Central Railway and police have launched an investigation into the matter. 

“A stone was thrown on this train, coming from Surat Udhna, near Jalgaon. In this case, immediate action was taken by the Railway Protection Force and four teams were deployed on the train. A complaint has also been lodged,” said Swapnil Neela, Chief Public Relations Officer of Central Railway.

The train will reach Prayagraj in the morning.

The CCTV footage is being examined by the Railway Police.

This edition of Maha Kumbh, from January 13 to February 26, is expected to be a mega draw, as it is set to coincide with a special alignment of the planets.

The festival is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher, or kumbh, containing the nectar of immortality, and is held at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Sarasvati rivers.

During the battle, a cosmic fight called “Samudra Manthan”, or the “churning of the ocean”, four drops of nectar were spilt. One landed at Prayagraj, where the Kumbh is held every 12 years. The other drops fell in Nashik, Ujjain and Haridwar, cities where smaller Kumbh festivals are held in intervening years.

The last celebration at the site, the “ardh” or half Kumbh Mela in 2019, attracted 240 million pilgrims, according to the government.

A central part of the rituals is bathing in the holy rivers. On the most auspicious dates, it is known as Shahi Snan, or “royal bath”.

Hindus believe that those who immerse themselves in the waters cleanse themselves of sin, breaking free from the cycle of rebirth and ultimately attaining salvation.

(With inputs from Mahendra Prasad)

A man was burnt to death after his car caught fire while driving in Gujarat’s Surat. The driver, 42-year-old Deepak Patel, was trapped inside the vehicle when it caught fire today.

The incident took place on the Udhna Magdalla Road. Fire engines reached the spot but couldn’t rescue the man due to a blast in the car. A view showed the car up in flames and firefighters dousing the flames.

People heard the sound of an explosion in the car and immediately saw smoke coming out of it. The fire was so severe that they couldn’t take Deepak out of the vehicle and he fainted in the car itself.

The victim is a yarn trader and lives in the Abhava Village in Surat.

The fire engines found it difficult to douse the flames and the car was completely burnt.

The police said the preliminary findings suggest that a short circuit or technical fault may have caused the fire. The forensic team is probing various angles to find out how the fire broke out.

– with inputs from Mahendra Prasad

A 32-year-old man in Surat, Gujarat severed four fingers on his left hand due to work-related stress, according to the city police, as cited by news agency PTI. The man, identified as Mayur Tarapara, was working as a computer operator at his relative’s diamond firm but could not cope with the work pressure and wanted a way out. The accused landed on the plan of chopping his fingers as it would have made him unfit for the job which primarily required using a computer.

As per the police, Tarapara told officials that he found his fingers missing after falling unconscious on the side of a road when he was on his way to a friend’s house. During the preliminary stages, it was insinuated that the fingers may have been cut and taken away for black magic purposes.

Inconsistencies emerge

However, when the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) launched its probe, several inconsistencies emerged in Tarapara’s story. His personal belongings including the motorcycle, phone and cash were untouched with police unable to find any evidence of an attack as well. After being confronted with the evidence, Tarapara gave in quickly and revealed the truth.

“Tarapara confessed that he bought a sharp knife from a shop near Char Rasta in Singanpore. Four days later, on Sunday night, he went to Amroli Ring Road and parked his motorcycle there. At around 10 pm, he cut off four fingers with a knife and tied a rope near the elbow to prevent blood flow. He then put the knife and fingers in a bag and threw it away,” the official said.

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Explaining his plight to the police, Tarapara said he felt ‘trapped’ in his job due to family obligations as his employer was a relative of his father. He said he did not have the courage to tell anyone that he no longer wanted to work in the accounts department of his firm, Anabh Gems, located in Varachha Mini Bazaar.

Tarapara is reportedly married and has a two-year-old daughter. He earned Rs 50,000 per month while his father lived in their native village of Wadhvan in Surendranagar district.

Amroli police is carrying out further probe, the officials informed.

Surat:

In a bizarre incident, a man chopped off four fingers of his left hand with a sharp knife to make himself unfit for his job as a computer operator at his relative’s diamond firm, police in Gujarat’s Surat city said on Saturday.

Mayur Tarapara (32) had earlier told police a story about finding his fingers missing after falling unconscious by the side of a road, though a probe into the chain of events revealed that the harm was self-inflicted, the officials added.

In a statement, Surat Crime Branch said Tarapara took this step as he did not have courage to tell his relative that he no longer wanted work at his firm Anabh Gems, located in Varachha Mini Bazaar.

The victim works as a computer operator in the accounts department at this firm and loss of fingers would have made him unfit for the job, the statement pointed out.

Earlier, Tarapara had told police that he was on his way to a friend’s house on December 8 on a motorcycle when he felt dizzy and passed out by the ring road near Vedanta Circle in Amroli.

When he regained consciousness after 10 minutes, four fingers of his left hand had been chopped off, Tarapara had told police.

It was suspected at the time that the fingers may have been cut and taken away for black magic purposes, as per police.

A case was registered at Amroli police station and the probe was transferred to the city’s Crime Branch, which found Tarapara’s involvement after going through CCTV footage and deploying technical surveillance as well as human intel.

“Tarapara confessed that he bought a sharp knife from a shop near Char Rasta in Singanpore. Four days later, on Sunday night, he went to Amroli Ring Road and parked his motorcycle there. At around 10pm, he cut off four fingers with a knife and tied a rope near the elbow to prevent blood flow. He then put the knife and fingers in a bag and threw it away,” the official said.

His friends took him to hospital, the official said, adding three fingers have been recovered from a bag, while the knife was found in another bag.

Amroli police is carrying out further probe, the official informed.

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