Bengaluru: Twenty-three-year-old Pavithra, who was battling for life at Victoria hospital after being set ablaze by her 38-year-old boyfriend, succumbed to her third-degree burns on Thursday afternoon. 
 
In her dying declaration to the police, she claimed that her boyfriend was responsible for her death. This declaration, which holds good in a court of law, is enough for the police to arrest her boyfriend Barathi S, a native of Tamil Nadu; who is also undergoing treatment for minor burns at the same hospital. 
 
The post-mortem was conducted at the Victoria hospital and the body was handed to her relatives. The Hebbal police who had initially registered a case of attempt to murder have now registered a murder case against Barathi and arrested him. 
 
It may be recalled that Barathi had called Pavithra to his residence on Gudaddahalli Road in Subra­ma­nyapura slum in Hebbal on Tuesday morning and set her ablaze. Pavithra, who held a diploma in leather technology, was working as a supervisor, when she met Barathi, who was employed as a manager in the same factory. 
 
Promising that he would marry her, Barathi and Pavithra also had a physical relationship; but Barathi later backed out of the commitment saying he was already married to two other women. When Pavithra threatened to take legal action against her lover, Barathi called her over to his residence and set her ablaze.  
 
Next: Father strangles daughter
 
Father strangles daughter
 

Warangal: A man strangled his 17-year-old daughter suspecting that she was having an affair with a boy, at Kesamudram on Wednesday night.
 
Narra Maheswari, second daughter of Satyanarayana, was studying Inter first year.
 
According to sources, Satyanarayana brought Maheswari home from Warangal, where he she was studying.
 
When the girl did not respond to his queries on the alleged affair, he allegedly strangled her with her chunni.
 
He tried to portray it as suicide and called in his neighbours. His wife was in Hyderabad with their elder daughter.
 
During interrogation, Satyanarayana is said to have confessed to his crime. The Mahabubabad police arrested Satyanarayana.

 
Next: Couple end life over going abroad 
 
Couple end life over going abroad
 
Bengaluru: A man and his wife, who had differences over going abroad for work, committed suicide by consuming poison at their house in front of Infant Jesus Church at Vannarpet in Viveknagar on Wednesday night. 
 
The deceased have been identified as Saravana, 24, and Sonia, 22. Saravana had no job since three months, while Sonia was working at a BPO. 
 
Police said that the duo got married four years ago and Sonia was seven months pregnant. Saravana wanted to go to Dubai and find a job with the relative’s help. But Sonia was forcing him to take her also to Dubai. 
 
As she was pregnant, Saravana reportedly told her that he would take her after her delivery. This led to quarrel between the couple.
 
“The couple quarrelled over the matter on Wednesday night and it seems they decided to commit suicide together,” the police said. 

 
Next: 4 electrocuted on I-Day

 
4 electrocuted on I-Day
 
Hyderabad: Four persons, including a 15-year-old student and his teacher, lost their lives during the Independence Day celebrations in Medak and Mahbubnagar on Thursday.
 
In the first incident, two men were electrocuted while they were making arrangements at the Gram Panchayat office, in Malugu mandal, in Medak district for the celebrations.
 
On Thursday morning, Mahesh, 25, and Naresh, 24, residents of Singannaguda village, Malugu mandal, were electrocuted when a live wire came in contact with the iron pole on which the flag was to be hoisted.
 
The victims succumbed to the injuries in the hospital.
 
In the second incident, Sharath Chandra 15, a Class X student and resident of Acchampet and Krishna Naik, 25, a physical trainer of C.V. Raman School were electrocuted after the celebrations.
 
Krishna and Sharath were bringing down the iron pole from the terrace, when it came in contact with a live electric wire which led to their death.
 
Krishna is survived by his wife and a daughter. Student organisations, including the ABVP, protested against the institution and demanded compensation for the victims.
 
In both the cases, sources said, police has registered cases of suspicious death and is investigating.
 
Next: Man ends life in V.V. Towers 

 
Man ends life in V.V. Towers
 
Bengaluru: A 58-year-old cleaner-cum-driver committed suicide by hanging himself on Wednesday morning at V.V. Towers in Cubbon Park police limits.
 
The deceased is Changalaraya Reddy, a native of Tirupati. Reddy lived and worked in the fourth floor of V.V. Towers.
 
He was reportedly depressed after one of his sons took a huge loan and disappeared from home six years ago, leaving him to repay the entire sum.
 
Reddy decided to kill himself on Wednesday. His body was found by other employees of V.V. Towers on Wednesday morning.
 
Police said Reddy had come to the city almost a decade ago for work. His wife and two sons stayed back in Tirupati. Six years ago, his first son ran away from home after borrowing money from someone.
 
The responsibility to repay the amount fell on  Reddy, who grew frustrated over the years. This induced him to become an alcoholic, police added.
 
On Tuesday night, Reddy reportedly called his family and told them he would be ‘leaving the world to join his parents’.
 
Thinking it was his usual drunken talk, his wife did not take it seriously. Police suspect Reddy committed suicide late on Tuesday or early on Wednesday. 
 
Next: Four get life term for abducting girl

 
Four get life term for abducting girl
 
Shashiprasad S.M. I DC
 
Bengaluru: Sending a strong message to anti-social elements, who indulge in kidnapping and holding innocent citizens for ransom, the high court has upheld the life imprisonment of four convicts, who had kidnapped a girl for a ransom of Rs 1 lakh. 
 
A division bench comprising Justice K. Sreedhar Rao and Justice B.V. Pinto, upheld the order of a lower court inMysore, sentencing S. Nataraj, Satish Gowda, Janardhana and Srinivasa, to life imprisonment for offences of kidnapping, threatening to cause hurt, demanding ransom and with an intention to outrage the modesty of the girl. 
 
The convicts, all in their mid-twenties, had kidnapped a girl, a PUC student, from her house in a van. The main conspirator was the van driver, appointed by the girl’s father to ferry her to college and tuition classes.
 
The convict Satish, along with his accomplices kidnapped the girl in the van, and later called up her father and demanded a ransom of `1 lakh. The kidnappers had threatened to cause her hurt. 
 
Interestingly, the convicts who approached the high court challenging the lower court, sentencing them to life imprisonment, had argued that there was an ‘affair’ between the driver and the girl, and hence the father had filed a false complaint of kidnapping.
 
However, the court rejected their submissions as they had common intention to kidnap her, which was proved efficiently effectively by the prosecution through witnesses and evidence. 
 
Following the father’s complaint, the Mysore city police arrested the driver, who disclosed the names of other accused. The driver had initially pretended as if he was kidnapped. The girl was taken to various places and threatened to kill the victim. 
 
The driver was nailed for the offences after the victim revealed that the driver kept receiving calls to his mobile phone from the other accused. 
 
One of the accused had threatened the girl with a syringe and threatened to kill her, if her father were not to give money to them. They told her that if they injected the syringe she would regain consciousness only after four days! 
 
Next: Rs 1 crore worth narcotics seized on flight to KL

 
Rs 1 crore worth narcotics seized on flight to KL
 
Chennai: Sleuths of  narcotics control bureau seized 12.25 kg narcotics substances worth Rs 1 crore in the international market from two air passengers bound to Kuala Lumpur via Delhi at Chennai airport on Thursday. 
 
The smugglers had managed to pass through the 7-tier security ring enforced around the airport in view of Independence Day celebrationson Thursday.  
 
The NCB team which followed the two passengers through the domestic terminal, caught them before arresting them for possessing  pseudoephedrine. 
 
The arrested were identified as Mohamed Ibrahim, 26, from Sivaganga and Raj Kumar, 32, of Chennai. 
 
They were carrying the narcotics substance in gym equipment they were carrying.
 
“Primary inquiry revealed that they two were supposed to travel to Delhi and from there to Malaysia to deliver the contraband.
 
The two were arrested under NDPS act and remanded to judicial custody,” noted Prem Anand Sinha, NCB’s Chennai zone director. 
 
It may be noted that the two had tried to carry the contraband when security alert was highest at the airport on Thursday. 
 
“May be they decided to take the risk as they thought the security agencies were looking only for explosives and not for narcotics. 
 
But the NCB based on a tip off intercepted them,” an airport source noted. 
 
Next: Man detained for bank theft bid

 
Man detained for bank theft bid
 
Dharmapuri: Mahinderamangalam police of Dharmapuri detained a man on Thursday for trying to rob a primary agricultural cooperative bank (PACB) in Jakkasamuthiram village, near Palacode, on the Dharmapuri-Hosur road of Dharmapuri.
 
On July 22, villagers of Jakkasamuthiram were disturbed by the sound of the burglar alarm in their village PACB. They called Mahinderamangala police, who entered the PACB, and found that thieves had tried to break open the bank safe in which gold jewels pawned by PACB customers were kept.
 
The robbers entered the bank from the rear through a ventilator.Mahenderamangala police registered a case and received information from their sources that Siva Sankar, 30, of Bikkanahalli village, near Palacode was involved in the robbery bid. On Thursday, they detained him, and are investigating.
 
Next: Child killer cop arrested

 
Child killer cop arrested
 
Coimbatore: The driver of the sp­eeding police SUV, that ran over a toddler at Ukkad­am, resulting in his death, on Wednes­d­ay, was arrested and later released on bail on Thurs­day.
 
The police said the accused was su­spended from duty with immediate eff­ect.  Meanwhile, the district collector, tahsildar and various politicians visited the residen­ce of the victim.
 
The Traffic Inves­ti­gation Wing conducted investigati­ons at the accident spot on Thurs­d­ay morning.  
 
Follo­w­i­ng the preliminary investigation, the  ci­ty Traffic Inves­ti­gation Wing (TIW) police have registered a case against the police jeep driver Murugesan, under section 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304 (A) (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code. 
 
S. Damodaran, Minis­ter of Agriculture, MLA S.P. Velumani, Pollachi MP, K Sukumar and District Collector, M. Karunagaran visited the victim’s house and offered their condolence on Thursday.
 
The relatives of the victim lodged a petition to the Agriculture Minister, Damodran, and claimed that the Government should take stringent action against the police officials who escaped without taking the child to the hospital immediately.
 
The Minister promised them that proper action would be taken on the petition.