27-yr-old NRI dies of dehydration in Saudi desert after GPS failure; body found 4 days later

In a shocking development, a doctor, who worked for the mobile medical services of the Isha Foundation in Coimbatore district, has been arrested by the Coimbatore District Police on charges of sexually assaulting many girl students of a government school during a medical camp. 

The incident came to light during a meeting between education officers and the students, held following orders from Chief Secretary N Muruganandam. The meeting was part of a larger investigation after four staff members of a government college in Valparai were recently arrested for sexually harassing students.

The arrested doctor, identified as 33-year-old S Saravanamoorthy, was a native of Tirupattur district and was part of a mobile medical units team, operated by the Isha Foundation of Jaggi Vasudev alias Sadhguru.

These units have reportedly been conducting free medical camps for school students and general public across Coimbatore under their ‘Action for Rural Rejuvenation’ programme. 

During the meeting with the education officers on Wednesday, September 4, around 12 girl students belonging to classes 6 to 10, raised complaints about how they were touched inappropriately by Saravanamoorthy during these camps.

Immediately after this, the school management reached out to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), who followed an inquiry with the students. Following this, the Perur All Women police were alerted.

The police officials visited the school and inquired with each of the survivors personally. After recording their statements, they registered a case against the doctor under Section 9(e) (whoever being on the management or staff of a hospital, whether government or private, commits sexual assault on a child in that hospital) read with 10 (punishment for aggravated sexual assault) of Pocso Act. The doctor was later arrested and has been remanded to judicial custody. 

The Isha Foundation, meanwhile, has put out a statement stating that they are fully cooperating with the investigation and that they have a zero tolerance policy for crimes against women and children. 

“It has been brought to our notice that a case has been registered against an employee who is a doctor with our outreach mobile medical services in the rural areas of Coimbatore. Isha holds a Zero Tolerance Policy for any crimes against women and children. We are cooperating with the ongoing police investigation and will take necessary actions by the legal,” read the statement.

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Friday joined the Congress ahead of the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls and will be the candidate from Julana. Along with Phogat, Bajrang Punia also joined the party.

Meanwhile, Former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh took a jibe at the wrestlers saying, "God has punished them for cheating."

"Haryana is the crown of India in the field of sports. And they stopped the wrestling activities for almost 2.5 years. Is it not true that Bajrang went to the Asian Games without trials? I want to ask those who are experts in wrestling. I want to ask Vinesh Phogat whether a player can give trials in 2 weight categories in a day? Can the trials be stopped for 5 hours after the weigh-in?... You did not win the wrestling, you went there by cheating. God has punished you for the same, " Brij Bhushan said, as reported by ANI.

Additionally he also called out Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda.

"I am not guilty of disrespecting daughters. If anyone is guilty of disrespecting daughters, it is Bajrang and Vinesh. And the one who wrote the script, Bhupinder Hooda is responsible for that. If they (BJP) will ask me (to campaign in the Haryana polls), I can go. One day Congress will have to regret it...," he said.

Both Phogat and Punia met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence before officially joining the party at an event at headquarters in the presence of General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal.

Vinesh Phogat, who defied several odds to make the final of the women’s freestyle 50 kg event of the Paris Olympics, was disqualified after being overweight by a few grams.

Now, Olympians Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who were at the forefront of the wrestlers' protest against former WFI chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh last year, entered the political arena on Friday by joining the Congress with a vow of "not being scared or backing off".

Hours after joining the Congress, Punia was appointed as the working chairman of the All India Kisan Congress. It seems unlikely now that he would be fielded in the polls.

The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.

Riyadh: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Monday met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov here in the Saudi capital, days after President Vladimir Putin named India among the three countries he is constantly in touch over the Ukraine conflict.

Their interaction took place on the sidelines of the India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers' meeting. Both the ministers are in the Saudi capital to attend ministerial meetings of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

"Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a meeting with Foreign Minister of India @DrSJaishankar," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a post on X.

On Thursday, President Putin named India among the three countries he is constantly in touch over the Ukraine conflict and said they are sincerely making efforts to resolve it.

Speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Putin said, "If there is a desire of Ukraine to carry on with the negotiations, I can do that." His remarks came within two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic visit to Ukraine, where he held talks with President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"We respect our friends and partners, who, I believe, sincerely seek to resolve all issues surrounding this conflict, primarily China, Brazil and India. I constantly keep in touch with our colleagues on this issue,” Putin was quoted as saying by Russia's TASS news agency.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov last week told the Izvestia daily that India could help in establishing a dialogue on Ukraine.

Underlining the existing "highly constructive, even friendly relations" between Modi and Putin, he said the Indian Prime Minister can "lead the line on getting first-hand information from the participants in this conflict," as he “freely communicates with Putin, with Zelenskyy, and with the Americans.” "This gives a great opportunity for India to throw its weight in world affairs, to use its influence that would drive the Americans and Ukrainians towards using a greater political will and entering the peaceful settlement track,” Peskov said.

He, however, said there are "no specific plans" for Modi to mediate on the issue.

"At this time they can hardly exist, as we do not see any preconditions for talks for now,” the Kremlin spokesman said.

Modi on August 23 visited Ukraine where he conveyed to President Zelenskyy that both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an "active role" to restore peace in the region.

His nearly nine-hour visit to Ukraine, the first by an Indian prime minister since its independence in 1991, came six weeks after he held summit talks with President Putin that triggered anguish in some Western countries.

In his talks with Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Modi said India was on the side of peace since the beginning of the conflict and he would even like to contribute personally to a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Jaishankar arrived in the Saudi capital Sunday on the first leg of his three-nation tour to attend the first India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers' meeting.

The GCC is an influential grouping, comprising the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. The total volume of India's trade with GCC countries stood at USD 184.46 billion in the financial year 2022-23.

From Riyadh, Jaishankar will travel to Germany where he will meet the German Foreign Minister as well as the leadership and other Ministers from the German government to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations. This will be his third bilateral visit to Berlin.

On the third and final leg of his trip, Jaishankar will visit Geneva.