Interstate human trafficking racket busted, 5 boys rescued in Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN: A major interstate human trafficking racket has been busted by the Haridwar police with the arrest of three persons involved in the operation and the recovery of five children in the age group of three years to six months. 

According to the police, the gang members lifted infants as their family members slept mainly from the platform of the Haridwar railway station, later selling them to people in Ghaziabad, Noida, Delhi and Haryana for anything between Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per child. 

The attention of the Haridwar police was caught by the similar modus operandi of a gang involved in targeting kids at railway stations. On September 4 last year, Mahoba (UP) resident Baldev Prasad told GRP that his children were stolen one night from the Haridwar station. On June 2 this year, the son of Bulandshahr resident Sunil Kumar was stolen in a similar fashion. This was followed on August 3 and September 3 by the snatching away of children belonging to one Dharampal of Amroha and Murli Saini from Bijnore. Again, the site of the crimes were railway stations. 

"Following all this, we constituted a joint team of the GRP and SOG to crack the cases," SSP Haridwar Sadanand Date told TOI. Working on the clues, the team quickly arrested four persons, including a woman, from the Jwalapur railway station on Friday. 

The arrested have been identified as Muzaffarpur resident Krishnaveer, his wife Rekha, Jagmohan, a Dehradun resident, and Balwinder Singh, who is from the Yamuna Nagar district of Haryana. 

Giving details of the modus operandi of the gang, Date said, "They targeted families that had children and were visibly tired from long distances of travel. The gang members slept on the platform alongside their targets and fled with unsuspecting children the first opportunity they got.

Out of the five children rescued on Friday, three are from Haridwar. Efforts are being made to trace the identity of the two others. "We are contacting people who have registered FIR in connection with their missing child or children. Soon, we hope to ascertain the identity of the two kids," Date added. "Generally, these criminals sold infants to people who did not have a child. Efforts are on to find out how many children they have lifted till now and what is their status." 

Lauding the efforts of the joint team, DGP B S Sidhu announced a cash prize of Rs 10,000 even as DIG Range Amit Sinha declared a reward of Rs 5,000 and SSP Haridwar Rs 2,500. 

Welham Girls School win basketball finals

Welham Girls School beat The Aryan School 

Dehradun - Under the District Youth Basketball Championship (Boys and girls) , Welham Girls School beat The Aryan School in the final match played at The Aryan School basketball courts on Friday.

The Welham Girls School beat The Aryan School 38-19. The highest scorer from Welham Girls School was Seher with 12 points while the highest scorer from The Aryan School was Channi with eight points.

In the final match of the boys’ category, Welham Boys School beat The Asian School 37-22 points. The highest scorer from Welham Boys School was Vijay with 13 points and the highest scorer from The Asian School was Vaibhav with 12 points.

The chief guest for the final match was Sunny Gupta, Vice Chairman of the Aryan School. He gave away prizes to the winner and runnersup teams. 

MDDA seals illegal construction at Avalon resort

Mussoorie, August 23
The local administration in association with the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) sealed a flat being constructed illegally at the Avalon resort, near Gun Hill, in Mussoorie today.

A joint team of the local administration and the MDDA reached the resort around noon and stopped the construction work being done on one flat of the resort. Following that, the officials sealed the flat and directed the owners not to venture out with construction activity, further.

The MDDA officials said notice had been served to the owners regarding the illegal construction but there was no response from the other side forcing them to carry out the sealing drive on the instruction from the MDDA, joint secretary.

Dehradun's Vikram era comes to an end

Dehradun: Come Friday, it wouldn’t be the usual merry ride for vikrams seen darting around the state capital. The RTO Department has finally got down to implement restrictions and regulate the vikram menace which has plagued Dehradun roads for decades now. Hailing the blue wagon will now be similar to hailing a threewheeler autorickshaw, unlike the past where vikrams functioned like city buses and stopped at unregulated intervals to ferry passengers, at a nominal charge. The announcement has come as a shocker to the vikram owners, while the city bus operators have welcomed the new law.

At present 782 vikrams have been awarded contract licences on the various city routes, however the actual number of vikrams plying on the road is way higher, almost double according to some estimates. The license, which permits the vikrams to run like autos, has been misused by the vikram drivers for decades now. Interestingly mapping of the several routes, and allotting a fixed number of vikrams for every route was also done by the vikram owners association, to safeguard their interests.

The blue vikrams have been a popular local transport option for the masses. Autorickshaws are way to expensive for the common man, whereas vikrams take a fraction of the fare and can be conveniently hailed from the roadsides. The new law will certainly affect thousands of commuters who have been using the service for years now.

To effectively implement the law, special teams have been deputed to keep a check on the vikrams. A steep fine of Rs 5000 will be levied on anyone breaking the law, a repeat offence will result in scrapping of the permit.

Well Vikrams, are Dehradun’s unique public transport and the cheapest way to get around town. These vehicles are often crammed with around 8 passengers squeezing in. The Vikrams are numbered according to their routes through the city. Minimum fare is Rs. 4 and maximum is Rs. 10.

The Main Vikram Routes Are:-

1 Gandhi Park to Rajpur: begins at Gandhi Park and travels to the Rajpur-Mussoorie Road Fork.

2 Clock Tower to Sahastradhara/Raipur: begins at Clock Tower and proceed to Sahastradhara Crossing.

3 Clock Tower to Rispana Bridge: begins at Clock Tower, proceed to Haridwar Road and Dharampur, and then through Nehru Colony to Rispana Bridge.

4 Rispana to Doiwala: begins at Rispana Bridge and proceed to Doiwala.

5 Parade Ground to Clement Town/Majra/ISBT: begins at Astley Hall, proceed to Majra and the Interstate Bus Terminus.

6 Bindal Pull (bridge) to Kaulagarh Road: begins at Connaught Place and goes up to Kaulagarh Road.

7 Bindal Pull to Premnagar/ Chakrata Road: begins at Connaught Place and travels on Chakrata Road crossing Krishan Nagar Chowk, Ashirwad Enclave and FRI.

8 Parade Ground to Kanwali Road / Seemadwar: begins at Astley Hall, proceed to Saharanpur Chowk, before going to Kanwali Road towards Balliwala. The last stop on this route varies between Seemadwar/Indranagar, Anurag Nursery or Vasant Vihar Chowk.

9 Bindal Pull to Garhi Cantt

10 Premnagar to Clock Tower: very infrequent, goes via Kanwali Road

11 Majra to Shimla By Pass Road

Doonites' reactions:-

Anurag writes - Absolutely ridiculous step. The cause of problem was an oversupply of these vikrams and not their presence.. The city does not have sufficient transport infrastructure to support this kind of a move... Buses are infrequent and filthy..
Its like cutting off your left hand because it itches a lot..Once again the state authorities prove their short sightedness and an uncanny ability to make knee jerk reactions.

13 Russians killed, one missing as vehicle plunges into Bhagirathi

Dehradun - 13-member Russian group were killed and one went missing when a vehicle carrying them plunged into the Bhagirathi near Harsil in Uttarkashi district on Tuesday afternoon.

The other 10 members of the group and the driver have been admitted to a Dehardun hospital.

Superintendent of Police Jagat Ram Joshi said the search for the missing person was halted for the night and would resume on Wednesday. The high water level in the river was impeding the search.

He said the group was on its way from the Gangotri temple to Uttarkashi when the vehicle fell off the road, hit a tree and fell into the river.

“The road was in a good condition. It seems the driver was trying to overtake another vehicle when the accident occurred. There can be no other cause for the accident as the road had no turns and was in a good condition,” he said.

The police, the Army and the State Disaster Response Force carried out the rescue operations.

UTTARAKHAND FAKE ENCOUNTER

CBI sought death sentence for cops

Encounter Sight

New Delhi, June 9 - A CBI court sentenced 17 Uttarakhand policemen to life imprisonment for killing a 22-year-old MBA graduate in a fake encounter in Dehradun that rocked the hill state in 2009.

Special CBI Judge JPS Malik ruled that all of them were involved in the conspiracy to kill the youth, Ranbir Singh of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh on July 3, while seven of them were directly involved in the murder.
However, the Judge did not award them the maximum penalty of death sentence, observing that life imprisonment would meet the ends of justice in this case. The CBI had pleaded for the death penalty.

Of the 17 cops, six were sub-inspectors — Santosh Kumar Jaiswal, Gopal Dutt Bhatt (SHO), Rajesh Bisht, Neeraj Kumar, Nitin Chauhan and Chander Mohan Singh Rawat. All of them and constable Ajit Singh were convicted for the conspiracy and murder. The 10 policemen found guilty only for conspiracy include constables Satbir Singh, Sunil Saini, Chander Pal, Saurabh Nautiyal, Nagender Rathi, Vikas Chander Baluni, Sanjay Rawat and Manoj Kumar and drivers Mohan Singh Rana and Inderbhan Singh.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of the seven policemen and Rs 20,000 each on the remaining 10 and directed the authorities to handover the amount of Rs 5.5 lakh to the youth’s family. The family members, who were present in the court, expressed disappointment over the verdict and said they would move the Delhi High Court, seeking the death penalty for the accused.

The victim’s mother, who was in tears, wanted nothing less than the death penalty to all 17 policemen responsible for her son’s death.

The family members of some of the convicted policemen were also seen weeping. The court had rejected the convict’s contention that Ranbir was riding a motorcycle along with two others and snatched their revolver after being stopped at a checkpost on Mohini Road as part of a security drill for the visit of the then President Pratibha Patil. The victim’s friends are facing trial in a separate case of robbery in Uttarakhand. The Supreme Court had shifted the trial in the fake encounter case to Delhi on a plea by the victim’s family.

Badrinath shrine doors open

Devotees waiting to offer prayers after the doors of Badrinath shrine were opened on Monday.

Dehradun - The portals of the Badrinath shrine, dedicated to the worship of Lord Vishnu, opened amid chanting of mantras at 4 a.m. on Monday.

The number of devotees who thronged the snow-covered premises was “beyond expectations,” according to Chamoli District Magistrate S.A. Murugesan.

“Around 7,000 people visited the shrine,” he said. More than 3,000 visitors were pilgrims, and the remaining were locals, he said.

Even after the commencement of the pilgrimage, repair work on the road from Govindghat to Badrinath has not been finished.

The Border Roads Organisation has placed earth movers at critical spots where landslips are a probability.

Steps have been taken to regulate traffic for pilgrim safety.

“We are regulating traffic at Joshimath, Pandukeshwar, Hanuman Chatti, and Badrinath. The vehicles can only proceed in batches of 20 to 25, and no vehicle will be allowed for the Yatra after sunset and during rains,” said Mr. Murugesan.

With the opening of the Badrinath shrine, the Char Dham Yatra, which involves pilgrimage to all the four Dhams — Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath, and Kedarnath — has begun.

While the Badrinath shrine opened for pilgrims on Monday, the Kedarnath shrine had opened for pilgrims on Sunday, and Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines had opened on Friday.

Flanked by the Nar and Narayana mountains and the gushing waters of Alaknanda, Badrinath town reverberated with positive energy after the deathly silence of last year's tragedy.

The yatra was suspended last year in the wake of the catastrophic flashfloods in Uttarakhand in June, killing thousands of people. The Char Dhams are closed every year for nearly six months during the winter when they become snowbound only to be reopened during April-May when lakhs of devotees from all over the country and abroad visit the shrines.