FB traps thief

Mumbai, Feb. 11 (PTI): Police have arrested an accountant two months after he ran away with his employer’s money by laying a trap on Facebook.

Vijay Choudhary, who worked in an electronic shop, had run away with Rs 20,000 that his employer had asked him to deposit in a bank. Attempts to trace him failed as he switched off his mobile phone.

The police, after getting to know that Choudhary regularly logged into Facebook, created an account as a woman and sent him a friend request, which he accepted. Within a few days, Choudhary shared his mobile number with the “friend”. The police traced the number to Nagpur. Last week, the “woman” asked him to meet her at Lower Parel, to which he agreed. When Choudhary came to the pre-decided spot on Saturday, the police arrested him.

Safety plea

New Delhi: A Brahmin girl and a backward caste boy have approached the Supreme Court seeking protection after they got married against the wishes of the bride’s family. The court stayed a case filed against the boy by the girl’s family accusing him of kidnapping her and directed the Uttar Pradesh government to provide them security.

Fake drugs

New Delhi (PTI): The health ministry in response to an RTI query has said there has been a rise in cases of fake drugs in the past three years and that efforts to encourage whistleblowers to report such activity hasn’t drawn proper response.

Rebel attack

Gadchiroli (PTI): Naxalites on Friday ambushed a CRPF patrol party in the jungles along the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border resulting in heavy exchange of gunfire. The CRPF team, after a two-hour gunbattle, seized three live IEDs, two landmines, one claymore mine and a wireless set, a source said.

Crocodile

Thirukattupalli (PTI): A crocodile that had strayed into a paddy field in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district on Monday has been captured by fire and rescue services. It is suspected that the crocodile had come from a nearby river in search of food. A farmer had noticed the crocodile and informed police.

Pizza box mix-up

New Delhi, Feb. 11 (PTI): Dominos Pizza has been directed by a consumer forum to pay Rs 7,000 as compensation to a customer for delivering a non-vegetarian pizza in a box with a green sticker that symbolises vegetarian food.

The forum held the pizza chain guilty of negligence and deficiency in service. The order came on a plea by Delhi resident Poonam Chaudhary who complained that she had received a non-vegetarian pizza in a vegetarian pizza box.

Watch heist

Bhopal (PTI): As many as 90 watches, worth about Rs 50 lakh, were allegedly stolen from a popular brand showroom near the Raj Bhavan, police said on Monday. The theft took place on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. The burglars decamped with diamond-studded and gold watches, the police said. The CCTV footage is being examined to trace the accused.

Advocate

Pudukottai (PTI): An advocate was hacked to death in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukottai town allegedly by an unidentified gang when he was on his way to court, police said. Kannan was way-laid and hacked to death by the gang who escaped from the scene.

Deadliest blast day

New Delhi (PTI): Wednesday has proved to be the deadliest as a maximum number of bombings and IED blasts last year took place on this day of the week, data released by the National Bomb Data Centre of the NSG has said.

Out of the total 241 IED blasts across the country last year, a maximum of 47 incidents took place on Wednesday followed by 37 on the preceding day of the week, Tuesday. A total of 113 people, including 66 security forces, were killed in these blasts in 2012.

Surgery claim

New Delhi (PTI): A consumer forum has directed an insurance company to pay Rs 76,000 to its policy holder for denying claim of expenses of laser eye surgery on the ground that it is a cosmetic surgery and is not covered under the policy.

Kidnap foiled

Thane (PTI): Alert residents caught an Uttar Pradesh vendor red-handed who tried to kidnap a one-year-old girl from a Maharashtra town on Sunday. Azad Tede Khan, 20, found the toddler playing near her home and quietly lifted her, police said. The mother raised an alarm finding the child missing and local people rushed to the spot and caught the accused.

Tusker kills 1

Dehra Dun (PTI): A wild elephant trampled a man to death in Rishikesh’s Dhalwala on Sunday. Ramlal, 55, was on his way to his village through the Dhalwala forest with his wife when the jumbo attacked him. This is the third such incident in the area in a week.

Radio fund

New Delhi: The government is planning to allocate Rs 100 crore to community radio movement in the 12th Five-Year Plan, information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari said on Monday. It also proposed to set up 500 Community Radio Stations during the period, Tewari said.

Leopard cub

Nashik (PTI): Forest officials are looking after an abandoned leopard cub after it was rescued from a sugarcane field in Nashik on December 24. The leopard moved her two other cubs to safety but could not shift this one, an official said. They will free the cub once fully it is grown.