Suryapet:

Two men and a 12-year-old girl have died after drowning in a lake in the Suryapet district of Telangana, police said.

The incident occurred on the outskirts of Bopparam village within Atmakur police station limits in the district on Wednesday, they said.

Police said that the victims were attending a birthday party in the village when the incident took place. The bodies have been shifted to Suryapet District Hospital for post-mortem examination.

According to police, the deceased have been identified as Tippareddy Sripalreddy (42), a builder from Khammam, and his friend Shavalya Raju (45), a software professional from Narsaraopet, Andhra Pradesh, and Shavalya Raju’s daughter, Shavalya Usha (12), a student.

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

Hyderabad:

Telangana State Cyber Security Bureau on Sunday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against a YouTuber with regard to inappropriate comments on a child during a chat session.

Director General of Police Ravi Gupta said that the FIR was registered after Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka promised action when actor Sai Dharam Tej reported child abuse online after a YouTuber’s disgusting remark.

The police chief said the police team were identifying them. “Strict action will follow. We are committed to protecting all citizens, especially children. Offenders misusing social media for humour will face justice,” he posted on ‘X’.

The DGP said the government and police would intensify efforts to raise awareness about child safety and responsible social media use.

Earlier, Sai Dharam Tej took to ‘X’ to express outrage and tagged the chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of both the Telugu states to demand necessary action to curb horrific acts like this in future.

“This is beyond gruesome, disgusting and scary. Monsters like these go unnoticed on the very much utilised social platform doing child abuse in the disguise of so-called Fun & Dank. Child Safety is the need of the hour,” he wrote while sharing a video of a Telugu YouTuber making inappropriate comments on a video that features a father and his daughter.

The YouTuber made the comments during a live chat session with his friends.

Dharam Tej, who is nephew of Andhra Pradesh’s Deputy Chief Minister and actor Pawan Kalyan, also requested parents to use ‘some sort of discretion when you post a video or photos of your kids as the world of social media has become ruthless and dangerous and is very difficult to control or stop these animals from becoming violent and dangerous’.

“So kindly please be cautious, aware and take proper care before posting pictures or videos of your children, and to those people who have stooped to such low standards, I hope that you never get to see the turmoil of a parent in regards to your comments,” the actor wrote.

Reacting to his post, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy thanked Dharam Tej for bringing the incident to their notice. “Child safety is the utmost priority for our Govt. Will look into this incident and take appropriate action,” reads the post from the Chief Minister’s official handle on ‘X’.

“Child safety is indeed a top priority. we will ensure that our government takes the necessary steps to prevent child abuse and exploitation on social media platforms. Let’s work together to create a safer online environment for our children,” wrote Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka.

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

Hubballi:

Just weeks after college student Neha Hiremath was stabbed to death by her former classmate, a 21-year-old woman was murdered inside her house by an acquaintance here for allegedly rejecting her love proposal on Wednesday.

Vishwa alias Girish Sawant, 23, knocked on the door of Anjali Ambigera’s residence at Veerapur Oni area at around 5.45 am.

When she opened the door, Girish stabbed her to death with a knife and fled the place, a senior police officer said, adding that her sister was a witness to the brutal murder.

A case of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the accused, police said, adding that teams have been formed to arrest him.

Neha Hiremath, 23, was stabbed to death by her former classmate Fayaz Khodunaik inside her college campus in Hubballi on April 18.

“Girish was harassing my sister Anjali for sometime now. He expressed his love to her but my sister declined. He even pressured my sister to go with him to Mysuru. He had also threatened her that she will meet the same fate as that of Neha Hiremath,” Anjali’s sister Yashodha told reporters here.

“When we informed police about his threats, they didn’t pursue it seriously and today see, my sister is dead,” she said.

Anjali’s family and local residents staged a protest here demanding strict action against the accused. Later, the police reached the spot and dispersed them, assuring them that justice will be delivered.

Anjali’s father Mohan said that around seven months ago she had told them that Girish was harassing her.

“I had warned him (Girish). But today morning, unfortunately my daughter was murdered by this same person. The accused has to be punished,” he said.

No girl should be in the situation that Anjali has been in, her family said, and demanded strict action against the accused who is still at large.

Meanwhile, Congress Councillor Niranjan Hiremath — father of Neha — met the victim’s family and slammed the state government over the “deteriorating” law and order situation in north Karnataka and also sought suspension of Police Commissioner of Hubballi-Dharwad Renuka Sukumar for alleged “failure.” Talking about the brutal murder of Anjali, he said that despite the accused openly threatening the victim that she would meet the same fate as that of Neha, the police did not take the issue seriously when the woman’s family approached them to complaint.

“In less than a month of my daughter’s murder, another brutal and unfortunate murder happened this morning. I have been repeatedly urging the state government and the Home Minister (G Parameshwara) to bring an appropriate law (for such incidents). The police have failed to catch the culprit in Anjali’s case. He openly threatened her with Neha’s incident and yet the police did not take any preventive measure,” he told PTI Videos

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

Hyderabad:

The family of University of Hyderabad student Rohith Vemula on Friday said it will legally contest the Telangana Police’s closure report in his 2016 suicide case.

His brother Raja Vemula claimed the district collector has to decide on the family’s SC status, prompting the police to say that they will conduct a further investigation.

In its closure report on Rohith Vemula’s death, the Telangana Police claimed he was not a Dalit and died by suicide in 2016 as he feared that his “real caste” would be discovered.

Citing the doubts expressed by Rohith Vemula’s family, Telangana Director General of Police Ravi Gupta said in a statement late on Friday that a petition will be filed in the court concerned, requesting the magistrate to permit further investigations.

Raja Vemula told news channels that Telangana High Court gave an option to file a ‘protest petition’ in the lower court.

Whether Rohith Vemula belonged to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community or not should come from the district collector of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, he said and asked how the police can say he was not an SC.

Raja Vemula also said that they plan to meet Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on the matter.

Meanwhile, police chief Mr Gupta said the investigation officer in the case was the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Madhapur, and that the final closure report was prepared before November, based on the investigation conducted.

The final closure report was officially filed in the jurisdictional court on March 21 by the investigation officer, he said in the statement.

In its closure report, the police also gave a clean chit to the accused, citing a lack of evidence.

The university’s then vice-chancellor Appa Rao Podile, former BJP MP Bandaru Dattatreya, BJP ex-MLC N Ramachander Rao, and some ABVP leaders were among the accused.

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

Nalgonda, Telangana:

Ahead of Lok Sabha elections, as part of vehicle checking, Nalgonda police in Telangana seized gold worth Rs 5.73 crores, officials said.

The gold was seized within the jurisdiction of Miryalguda 1 Town police station limits.

Sudhakar, Station House Officer, Miryalguda 1 Town Police station said, “The gold was being transported from Miryalguda to Khammam in a vehicle. Further details awaited”.

In a press conference, Chandana Deept, Superintendent of Police, Nalgonda informed that as part of the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct coming into effect with the announcement of the schedule for Lok Sabha polls earlier in the month, to keep a check to prevent illegal transportation of cash and other valuables to lure the voters, the district police has kept a strict vigil by organising vehicle checkings in large scale, as per an official statement.

In this way, on March 18 at about 11:30 am, a police team led by G Sudhakar – Inspector of Police, found 3 persons proceeding in a vehicle bearing towards Kodad side, the release added.

“When they checked the said vehicle, they found gold worth Rs 5.73 crores being transported in it illegally in violation of the guidelines of the ECI. As such, as per the complaint lodged by Flying Squad, the respondents and the gold were taken into custody by the police and an investigation was taken up,” the release stated.

The ECI has announced various steps to eliminate the misuse of money and muscle power in the general elections in 2024.

Earlier Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar informed that to curb the flow of illicit money, the poll body has held extensive reviews with enforcement agencies.

“Cash movement worth around Rs 3,400 crore was restricted in the last 11 state assembly elections in Rajasthan, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Tripura,” CEC Kumar said.

Mr Kumar also noted that daunting challenges in conducting free and fair elections are “muscle, money, misinformation, and MCC violations” and asserted that the poll panel has put in place measures to deal with these disruptive challenges.
 

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