This Kerala youth crackssecure' Apple lock

Mangaluru, Jul 3: The sixth additional district and sessions court has sentenced five individuals to life imprisonment for the murder of Ismail, a 59-year-old resident of Pavoor under the Konaje police station jurisdiction. Among the convicted is Ismail's wife.

The 2016 incident, driven by an illicit relationship, shocked the local community.

Ismail's wife, Nabeesa (40), was involved in an affair with Jamal Ahmed (38), leading to frequent arguments with her husband. In response to Ismail's objections, Nabeesa devised a plan to have him killed.

The co-conspirators included Abdul Munaf alias Munna (41) and Abdul Rehman (36) from Ullal, and Shabbir (31) from Boliyar, all of whom participated in the murder.

On the evening of February 16, 2016, the accused lured Ismail under the guise of a rental job opportunity and killed him in a remote forest area near Shiradi. They buried his body and abandoned the vehicle to cover up the crime. Nabeesa financed the murder by pawning jewelry and filed a missing person's report to mislead investigators.

Judge Kanta Jaru S V found the accused guilty, sentencing them to life imprisonment with additional fines. The court also imposed rigorous imprisonment terms, underscoring the severity of the crime, and mandated compensation for Ismail's children through the District Legal Services Authority.

Mangaluru: An unsuspecting woman, who fell prey to online fraud, lost Rs 18.1 lakh. The complainant, who works from home, received a call on July 1 from an unknown person claiming to be from FedEx, informing her that a parcel had been registered in her name. 

Eager to find out more, she was instructed to press 1. After doing so, a person identifying himself as Anurag Tomar, with an employee ID, briefly introduced himself before ending the call.

Anurag Tomar called her back and alleged that the parcel contained contraband items, including a passport, four credit cards, 25 strips of LSD, and some clothes.

He told her she would be connected to the Mumbai Crime Branch and instructed her to download the Skype app for a video call.

Following these instructions, she spoke with an individual claiming to be an officer from the Mumbai Crime Branch. This person obtained her Aadhaar card and bank account details, and instructed her to add a beneficiary to her account. 

Over the course of the conversation, Rs 15 lakh was transferred from her account, followed by an additional Rs 3.1 lakh, after adding another beneficiary. The scammers stayed in touch with her until about 7.30 pm.

When the complainant attempted to reconnect with the same number, she was unable to reach anyone. She informed her family and realised that she had been defrauded. From 1.30 pm to 7.30 pm, the scammers made her believe they were from the Mumbai Crime Branch, threatening her with a case involving the alleged LSD found in the parcel. In total, she was cheated out of Rs 18.1 lakh, she alleged.

The Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which filed a chargesheet against former CM and BJP veteran BS Yediyurappa and three others, has claimed that Yediyurappa not just sexually assaulted minor at his house but also tried to cover it up by giving cash. 

In the chargesheet, three of Yediyurappa’s aides have been charged for destruction of evidence and trying to cover up the case on his behalf. 

The charges have been filed under IPC Sections 354A (sexual harassment), 204 (destruction of document or electronic record to prevent its production as evidence), 214 (offering gift or restoration of property in consideration of screening offender) and Section 8 (sexual assault) of the POCSO Act.

Bengaluru Police had registered an FIR against the 81-year-old BJP leader on March 15 under the law based on a complaint from a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her 17-year-old daughter. The girl had allegedly gone to meet the leader along with her mother at his home in February this year, seeking his help to speed up a probe into a past rape case. Her mother, who had made the complaint against Yediyurappa, died of lung cancer last month.

The government later transferred the case to the CID. A Bengaluru court had issued a non-bailable warrant for the leader’s arrest earlier this month, but the Karnataka High Court halted his arrest.

With the case back in the news last month, the BJP had sharply retaliated at the renewed interest, insinuating that the Congress government was doing this to divert attention from its loss in the recent general elections in the state. Yediyurappa had denied the charges, saying “people would teach a lesson to those indulging in conspiracies against me.”

750-page chargesheet

The 750-page chargesheet filed by the CID explains the minor girl’s ordeal.  The investigators found that on February 2, 2024, at around 11.15 am, the survivor, along with her 54-year-old mother, the complainant who died on May 26, visited Yediyurappa, 81, at his residence in Dollar’s Colony, Bengaluru seeking help in a previous case of sexual assault and other matters. While Yediyurappa was speaking with the mother, he was holding the survivor’s right wrist with his left hand.

Yediyurappa then called the minor inside a meeting room next to the hall and locked the door. He then asked the survivor, if she remembered the face of the person who had sexually assaulted her earlier. After the survivor replied twice that she did, Yediyurappa asked her what her age was then and proceeded to sexually assault her, the investigations found.

The survivor, startled, pushed the former CM’s hand, moved away and asked him to open the door. Yediyurappa put some cash in the hand of the survivor from his pocket and exited the room. He told the survivor’s mother that he couldn’t help them, gave her some money from his pocket and sent them away, the investigations revealed.

On February 20, after the survivor’s mother uploaded a video related to the crime on her Facebook account. Arun Y M, accused No.2, at the behest of Yediyurappa, along with Rudresh M and G Mariswamy, accused No.3 and 4, initiated contact with the survivor and her mother.

Rudresh and Mariswamy, along with another person listed as the witness, went to the survivor’s house and ferried her and her mother to Yediyurappa’s residence in their car. Investigations found that the three accused then coerced the survivor’s mother into taking down the video from her Facebook account and deleted the video from her iPhone’s gallery.

At Yediyurappa’s directions, Rudresh paid the survivor Rs 2 lakh in cash, the investigations revealed. Another conversation recorded by the survivor in her phone, which was not deleted, and the voice samples of Yediyurappa, formed key pieces of the evidence, reported Deccan Herald quoting sources.