Uttarakhand News July 2011

Teenage Haryana girl gangraped at Haridwar

A teenage girl who ran away from her home at Sonepat district of Haryana, was allegedly gangraped in Haridwar town, police said. On the girl's complaint, police arrested a youth Anuj Sharma of Bijnor district in the neighbouring state Uttar Pradesh. The girl after running away from her house went to Noida first and then last week came to Haridwar, police said. When the girl was in Haridwar, a youth took her to a hotel feigning interest in showing her a rented accommodation. The youth was soon joined by his two friends, who together allegedly raped the girl. After the medical examination, the police arrested Sharma. The hunt is on to trace two other culprits -- Vipin Chaudhary and Krishna Rathore.

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Chardham yatra routes clear for traffic

With the reopening of disrupted Rishikesh-Gangotri national highway, the routes to all the four Himalayan shrines have been cleared for vehicular traffic, officials said.

The landslides that hit Narendranagar area on Rishikesh-Gangotri national highway due to rains, have been cleared and the road was reopened for the vehicular traffic, Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre sources said. The routes leading to the Badrinath, Kedarnath and Yamunotri are already clear for the traffic. Meanwhile, the weather improved in most parts of the hill state this morning.

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Three held for selling leopard skin

Three persons were arrested for allegedly possessing leopard skin in Muni Ki Reti area of Tehri district, forest officials said here. Arvind Pant, Vishal and Navin Bansal were arrested by forest department officials from a hotel here after getting a tip-off. After getting the cue, the officials reached the hotel and posed as potential customers of the skin the trio were selling they said, adding that, after the transaction they were arrested. They have been booked under the wildlife protection act, they said.

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Three held with aphrodisiac herb

Three men were arrested for allegedly indulging in smuggling of Yartsa Gambu, an aphrodisiac herb, at Joshimath town of Chamoli district, police said. Acting on a tip-off, the police raided a place in the town and arrested them along with 500 gm of Yartsa Gambu, they said. There is a great demand of Yartsa Gambu in China and other Asian countries owing to its high medicinal value and its use as aphrodisiac.

The herb is found in higher Himalayan region in Pithoragarh and Chamoli during monsoons and only some forest panchayats of the area are authorised for their extraction, they said.

Delhi tourist drowned

A 33-year-old man, hailing from Delhi, drowned in river Yamuna near the Kempty Fall in the hill resort of Mussoorie, police said. The incident happened when Kapil Verma and his friend Naresh, aged 36 years, were taking bath in the fast-flowing river. Kapil met his watery grave while Naresh was saved by passers-by, police said adding the body had been sent for post mortem.

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Police clueless about missing IIM faculty member

After remaining clueless about the IIM-Ahmedabad faculty ember, who went missing under mysterious circumstances four days days ago, the Tehri police have now provided his sketch to the police of neighbouring districts. "Sketch of Prathap Uburai (42), a marketing faculty member of IIM-Ahmedabad, has been provided to the police of neighbouring districts," they said adding that rafts have also been pressed into service in the Devprayag area, the confluence of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers to trace him. "We are presuming that he has either become a sanyasi or jumped into the Ganga," said a police official, who is investigating the matter. The official said just couple of hours before Uburai went missing, he had tried to commit suicide by trying to jump into the Ganga at Devprayag. However, on the intervention of his two nephews, Uburai did not jump but kept talking about taking sanyas. Uburai, a father of two, has also served as director of the national insurance academy at Pune.