Rayalaseem machos against unkindest cut: family planning in andhra pradesh

U Sudhakar Reddy
The macho men of Rayalaseema are shying away from vasectomy operations with districts of the region reporting the lowest number of male sterilisation operations in the stateAccording to the family planning department, only 14 men came forward in the faction ridden Anantapur district to undergo vasectomy operation in 2007-2008There were 32 in Kurnool, 13 in Chittoor and 392 in Kadapa“Fewer men take up vasectomy operations in Rayalaseema districts because of their mind-set that only women should only undergo sterilisation,” said the joint director (family planning), Dr G. HymavatiThe joint director said the department had been conducting special awareness campaigns to motivate men to take up family planning“It has increased when compared to previous years,” she addedIn 2008-09 the family planning department conducted 179 vasectomy operations in Kurnool, 156 in Anantapur and 317 in Kada pa and 452 in ChittoorIn the entire state, 29,763 vasectomies were conducted in the year. Karimnagar topped with 5,658 operationsThis year, till June 15, only six men in Anantapur, nine in Kurnool, and 22 in Kadapa had undergone male sterilisation surgeryMeanwhile, tribal men in various agency areas in the state are coming forward to undergo vasectomy operations
“We are not aggressively promoting family planning in tribal areas in order to protect the population,” said Dr Hymavati“But as the tribal society is more matriarchal, women persuade men to undergo sterilisation.”

Murders most foul: Killings over property disputes in Hyderabad

U Sudhakar Reddy

In an alarming trend, city police reveals that 60 per cent of the 2,423 murders, that take place every year in the state, are due to property rows. In many cases, people are kidnapped and mercilessly murdered. Whether it's over a small piece of land or a tiny house shared by family members, quarrels erupt, fists fly and knives appear. Some don't hesitate to even hire assassins to do the job.When larger plots of land are involved, things can get worse.Land grabbers appear and more blood is spilled.
Though the slump in real estate business has reduced the activities of the land mafia, property disputes within families and business partners have been the cause for many brutal murders in the city.
Once common only in the faction ridden areas of Palnadu in Guntur and Anantapur, murders over land disputes have now spread to urban and semi-urban areas. "Apart from sexual jealousy, property disputes are the prime reasons for murder," says Dr M. Narayana Reddy, forensics expert of the Osmania Medical College. He adds that while many murders are pre-planned, there are some that occur in a fit of rage.
In January 2009, Mohammed Ghouse and his wife Miraj Fathima were hacked to death by the latter's brothers at Old City due to a property dispute. In May, Vamsidhar Rao, a realtor, was murdered after a dispute over 250 square yards of land in Mettuguda when he was forced to sign on blank papers. In yet another incident, Kaleemullah and Sameer shot dead a businessman Aiyaz Ahmed in August, after an altercation over a land deal.
Cyberabad tops the list of property dispute murders. Around 182 murders take place here in a year.This year alone 105 murders have been committed due to property disputes.
In July 2009, the Task Force arrested Yaseen Bee who hired two assassins to kill her husband after an altercation with him over property. She had allegedly promised the assassins Rs 30,000 to do the job. A month before that, S. Janga Reddy, a ward member of Dammaiguda village, was murdered by his business partner, over a real estate deal.
"The land mafia also produces fake registration documents, registering the same property in the name of several persons, filing false cases and of course, forcible possession of land," said a senior police officer. "Most of the noted land grabbers in the city are either politicians or sons of politicians or they have strong political nexus," he adds. Thanks to this, they easily wriggle out of cases.
In fact, police does not even have a list of land grabbers of the city. The Cyberabad police, who earlier announced plans to start a rogues' gallery of land grabbers, dropped the project.
However, the Cyberabad DCP (Crimes), Surya Prakash, says land grabbing by Rayalseema gangs has reduced in the city."There were nearly 1,000 cases a year during the real estate boom,"he says, adding, "Now we are only getting 200 cases. Murders triggered by property disputes are more common in rural and semiurban areas than in urban areas."

No conviction of fake currency rackateers in Andhra

U SUDHAKAR REDDY
Though terror networks have been introducing fake currency into the Indian markets, including in Andhra Pradesh, the conviction rate remains abysmal. Since 2006, police has achieved conviction only in one case.
The Andhra Pradesh police has not been pursuing counterfeit currency cases seriously though Pakistan-based Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and terror groups are pumping in fake notes to destabilise the economy.
The conviction rate in fake currency cases in the state is abysmally low. Since 2006, police could achieve conviction only in one case.Burdened as it is with regular law and order and crime duties, police has failed to investigate such cases properly.
In 2008, out of 304 fake note cases, charge-sheet was filed only in 20 cases and 212 cases are still under investigation. As many as 72 cases are in the "undetected" category and 19 are pending for trial.
"Counterfeit currency cases are piling up in the state," said a senior police officer.
In the last eight years, sleuths have busted 10 major fake currency rackets sponsored by the ISI and arrested 25 persons. They also recovered counterfeit currency worth about three crore rupees.
In certain cases in which international gangs are involved, investigation had been extended to West Bengal and Gujarat.But no initiative was taken for this in many instances. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) files the cases with Saifabad police, which does not have the staff strength to investigate them."We are transferring the cases as we don't have staff to probe them," said the Saifabad ACP, Mr Narottham Reddy. Alarmingly, in recent instances the investigators found that some bank employees are also involved in the circulation of fake currency.
The issue came to the limelight again the other week with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) warning that ISI has pumped in fake currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs1,000.
The Reserve Bank of India has also issued a similar warning and said that certain banks are not following currency chest guidelines, allowing fake currency to slip in.
According to the city police, counterfeit cur rency is routed through Bangladesh from Pakistan.
"In the Rs 38 lakh seizure the trail lead up to West Bengal, and the accused confessed that they got the currency from Bangladesh," said Mr V.B. Kamalasan Reddy, the task force deputy commissioner of police.
He added that police had not been able to trace any links to terror groups yet. "Links with hawala operators cannot be ruled out," he said.
In another fake currency case, names of three Pak istanis have figured in the investigation. Two key racketeers, Aftab Bhatki, a native of Mumbai, and Babu Gaithan, a native of Barkas in the city, could not be nabbed. They are both in Dubai and the Andhra Pradesh police has sought the help of the Interpol to catch them but nothing has been done do far.
In August 2007, police seized counterfeit currency worth Rs 2.36 crore and arrested a UAE national and three others from the city. But the kingpin of the rack et, Kamlesh, based in Hong Kong, is still absconding.
Even as investigation remains lax, the state crime . records bureau statistics show that there is in an t increase in counterfeit cur rency cases by 66.5 per cent every year. Around 343 cases of fake currency are reported in a year., The police said that East Godavari, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam were the nerve centres of fake cur rency circulation in the state.
Hyderabad has become a transit point for receiving consignments of counterfeit currency from UAE (Dubai) from where it is taken to various places in the coun try.
The fake currency coming to the state is of high quality and RBI officials say it is very difficult to distinguish it from the real stuff. The number of counterfeit cur rency detected per million t notes in the banking channel is only eight.
"A layman will not be able to identify the fake notes,"said the DCP. "Such is the precision with which they are made. They have most of the latest security fea. tures."

Maoist supreme commander Ganapathi looks like this

By U Sudhakar Reddy

The CPI Maoist supreme commander, Ganapati, alias Mupalla Lakshmana Rao, who has been evading cops for almost three decades appeared on You Tube and on TVs.
The video recording of his speech in the Unity Congress (the ninth Congress of the CPI Maoists) held in 2007 January-February in the forests of Bhimbund in the borders of Bihar and Jharkhand was “leaked” and uploaded on the video site.
Special intelligence branch sleuths and balladeer Gaddar have identified that it is Ganapati on the video. It is suspected that he is now based in Dandakaranya.
While police say Maoist leaders may have leaked the video clipping, there are reports it was the intelligence officials who leaked it after getting hold of the clipping from arrested Maoist leader Kobad Gandhy. An intelligence official said the police got the photograph two years ago.
“The video clipping is also with us,” he said. “No doubt it is Ganapati. He looks like a soft-spoken schoolteacher and has turned 60.” Ganapati hails from Karimnagar district and was carrying a reward of Rs 12 lakh on his head. He is a science graduate and succeeded People’s War founder Kondapalli Seetharamaiah as general secretary in 1991.

Bollywood actor Sridevi's signature forged: truth lab

By Udumula Sudhakar Reddy

The city-based Truth Labs has helped Bollywood star Sridevi and her producer husband Boney Kapoor in solving their case. They have approached Hyderabad private forensic lab in alleged cheque forgery case. The forensics lab has proved that their signatures on Rs 10 crore cheque were forged and did not belong to the film personalities.Sridevi was dragged to the court by a financier who alleged that her Rs 10-crore cheque had bounced on being presented in a bank. She had then filed a counter-complaint with the Juhu police alleging that her signatures were forged.The cheques were sent to the Truth Labs for verification. Mr K.P.C. Gandhi of Truth Labs said, “A famous Bollywood actor, who has acted in nearly 150 films, had reported her cheque book stolen. Several cheques were forged causing a loss to the tune of more than Rs 10 crore.”“These cheques were issued to film production companies. The cheques were brought from Mumbai by a representative of the actor. We gave the report in two days and the money was recovered after identifying the forger,” Mr Gandhi said.Talking of another case, Mr Gandhi said that a Bengaluru-based flying institute had forged the signature of the Karnataka governor to gain favours. That forgery was detected within a week.