Tag: Indianorigin

New Zealand: Indian-origin man sentenced for torturing, strangling woman to death

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Auckland: A 33-year-old Indian-origin man has been sentenced to more than 19 years in prison in New Zealand for sexually violating and fatally strangling a woman with Down syndrome in 2021, media reports said.
Shamal Sharma showed no signs of emotion in the High Court at Auckland this week as Justice Edwin Wylie set the minimum term of imprisonment for the mandatory life sentence, the NZ Herald reported.
Sharma was arrested in September 2021, two days after 27-year-old Lena Zhang Harrap’s body was discovered about a kilometre away from her Mt. Albert home.

According to court documents, Harrap encountered Sharma early in the morning when she had stepped out for a walk. He tortured her over a period of about two hours, inflicting multiple blows to her face before strangling her, which led to her death.
Sharma left the area after abandoning the victim’s body in the bushes and shrubbery, authorities said, adding that he was apprehended by police two days later.
Harrap received 13 bruises and abrasions to her head, as well as blunt force trauma that caused brain injuries but were not fatal, according to a pathologist.
Some injuries were so brutal that they could have independently caused her death, Crown prosecutor Matthew Nathan told the court while acknowledging Sharma’s history of schizophrenia, but said the attack was motivated by sexual desire.
“This has a degree of sadism through the infliction of pain,” he told the judge.

The court was told that barely 24 hours before the incident, Sharma had also violently preyed on a stranger jogging on the footpath, who managed to save herself and called the police from the nearest house.
“No sentence is long enough, and no justice can replace the life and love that was lost,” Harrap’s mother said after the court judgment.
Sharma’s lawyer Jonathan Hudson said his client is suffering from schizophrenia, and had been living in his car after being evicted from emergency housing, the stuff.co.nz reported.
The report quoted Justice Wylie as saying that Sharma’s offence included “a high level of brutality and callousness against a profoundly vulnerable woman, described by the family as childlike”.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 7, 2023
Indian-origin pensioner charged with murdering wife in UK

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London: An Indian-origin man has been charged with murder after he walked into a police station and admitted to assaulting and killing his 77-year-old wife in east London, police said.
Tarsame Singh, 79, appeared before the Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, and has been charged with the murder of 77 year-old Maya Devi, the Metropolitan Police said.
After Singh handed himself into a police station near the couple’s home in Hornchurch, East London, on Tuesday evening, officers and paramedics rushed to the scene and found Devi with severe head injuries.

“She was pronounced dead a short while later at the scene,” the police statement said, adding that her “next of kin are aware and continue to be supported by specially trained officers”.
According to Daily Mail, Singh ran the post office along with his wife in nearby Rainham for many years before recently retiring.
Both Singh and Devi, parents of a son and two daughters, are originally from India but had been living in Britain for more than 50-years, the report said.
Devi, who was supposed to go on a vacation to Lanzarote next week, was a regular at the Havering Asian Social and Welfare Association (HASWA) community centre, where she practised Yoga and met friends for lunch.
“I can’t believe this has happened and that she has gone. I saw her just a few hours before her death, it doesn’t seem real that I won’t see her again,” Devi’s friend Nirmala Leal told Daily Mail.

Leal said she had spoken to Devi a day before the muder, and she seemed to be in a good mood.
The three-floor end terrace home of the couple has been cordoned off by police.
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#Indianorigin #pensioner #charged #murdering #wife
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 6, 2023
Former Indian-origin employee sent to jail for stealing USD 17 million from Apple

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San Francisco: Dhirendra Prasad, a former Apple employee who was charged with defrauding tech giant Apple and related tax crimes, has been sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay more than $19 million.
He was charged in March 2022 for stealing around $17 million from the iPhone maker through mail and wire fraud schemes.
Prasad, 55, from Mountain House in San Joaquin County, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the US on November 2, 2022.

The remaining counts were dismissed at sentencing, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement.
The criminal conduct centred around Prasad’s employment at Apple from December 2008 through December 2018.
For most of that time, he was a “buyer” in Apple’s Global Service Supply Chain. It was Prasad’s job as an Apple buyer to facilitate the process through which Apple bought parts to perform warranty repairs on older devices.
According to the Justice Department, Prasad exploited his position and conspired with two separate Apple vendors to defraud the iPhone maker by taking kickbacks, stealing parts, inflating invoices, and causing the tech giant to pay for items and services it never received — resulting in a loss to Apple of more than $17,000,000.
In addition to engaging in two separate criminal conspiracies with Apple vendors, Prasad also acknowledged that he evaded tax on the proceeds of his schemes.

By virtue of his position at Apple, “Prasad was given substantial discretion to make autonomous decisions to benefit his employer”.
He abused his power to enrich himself at his employer’s expense — all while accepting hundreds-of-thousands of dollars worth of compensation from Apple in the form of salary and bonuses.
“Additionally, Prasad used his insider information regarding the company’s fraud-detection techniques to design his criminal schemes to avoid detection,” said the DOJ.
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#Indianorigin #employee #jail #stealing #USD #million #Apple
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 30, 2023
Indian-origin man jailed in Singapore for arranging sham marriage for visa

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Singapore: An Indian-origin man in Singapore has been sentenced to six months in prison for arranging a marriage of convenience between a colleague and his niece to gain an immigration advantage, a media report said.
Meeran Gani Nagoor Pitchai, 73, asked Abdul Kader Kasim, an Indian national who wanted to extend his short-term visit pass in 2016, to marry his cash-strapped niece in return for the payment of S$25,000, the TODAY newspaper reported.
Short term visit pass applicants, seeking an extension of 89 days from their date of entry to Singapore, require a local sponsor.

As part of the arrangement, Pitchai arranged for his niece, Noorjan Abdul, to become Kasim’s sponsor.
After Kasim and Noorjan agreed to the marriage and the financial arrangement, it was agreed that Pitchai would get S$1,000 as Noorjan’s former husband owed him money.
The marriage was solemnised in September 2016, and Pitchai was arrested last year by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers for arranging a sham marriage to obtain immigration benefit.
“Sham marriages are an offence, they are difficult to detect as evidence of sham marriages is difficult to uncover,” Assistant Superintendent (ASP) Ganeshvaran Dhanasekaran from ICA told the court on Wednesday.
He sought a six-month jail term for Pitchai from the court, stating that ICA takes a serious view of sham marriages.

Defence counsel Rajan Supramaniam said his client was “very remorseful” and his intention was only to help his colleague and niece.
Supramaniam did not propose a specific sentence but sought a lesser sentence for Pitchai, the TODAY reported.
District Judge Wong Peck noted that Pitchai did not profit financially from the arrangement, but played a “major role” in arranging the marriage.
“I agree with the prosecution that there is a need for general deterrence as sham marriages are difficult to detect,” Peck said.
Kasim was sentenced to six months’ jail in August last year, while Noorjan was sentenced to seven months jail in February this year.
In Singapore, sham marriages conducted to obtain immigration advantage can lead to a jail term for up to 10 years or a fine of up to S$10,000, or both.
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#Indianorigin #man #jailed #Singapore #arranging #sham #marriage #visa
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 27, 2023
Indian-origin man pleads guilty to tax evasion in US

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New York: An Indian-American tax return preparer faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison after pleading guilty to evading assessment of his personal federal income taxes.
Samir Patel of Statesboro, Georgia, was a tax return preparer at a national return preparation business from 1999 to 2021, according to court documents.
In 2015, he purchased a franchise of the business in Claxton, and as its owner, he hired, trained and supervised tax preparers, and continued to prepare returns for customers.

He, however, willfully filed false income tax returns that underreported his income and evaded proper assessment of his personal taxes for years 2015, 2016, and 2017, a Department of Justice release stated.
He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.
The District Court Chief Judge J Randal Hall for the Southern District of Georgia will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
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#Indianorigin #man #pleads #guilty #tax #evasion
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 15, 2023
Indian-origin man gets jailed for TikTok video targetting Dalits

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London: A 68-year-old Indian-origin man has been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment by a UK court over a video he posted on social media found to be offensive to certain communities.
Amrik Bajwa from Slough in Berkshire, south-east England, was sentenced and fined GBP 240 last week after pleading guilty to one count of sending by public communication network an offensive/indecent/obscene/menacing message or matter.
“Following a Thames Valley Police investigation, a man has been sentenced for sending an offensive message using social media,” the police said in a statement on Tuesday.

The post related to a video he posted on TikTok on July 19 last year reportedly targeted the Dalit community.
“I am pleased with the sentence given, which provides a clear message that Thames Valley Police will not tolerate behaviour like that of Amrik Bajwa,” said Sergeant Andrew Grant, the investigating officer on the case from the Slough police station.
“As a force, we are committed to protecting our communities and ensuring that criminal actions which have the potential to undermine community cohesion are dealt with robustly,” he said.
Bajwa was arrested a few days after his post, on July 22 last year, and charged via postal requisition on March 2 this year.
The Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance (ACDA), a voluntary human rights organisation campaigning against caste-based discrimination in the UK, was among the organisations to complain about the offensive “casteist” post which it characterised as hate speech targeted at Dalit communities.

“The 18 weeks sentence in jail reflects the severity of the harm Amrik Bajwa’s video caused the Dalit community,” said a spokesperson for the ACDA.
“We understand the conviction did not specifically refer to caste’ because caste is not yet a protected characteristic in law. But the Crime Prosecution Service (CPS) shared at the hearing the derogatory words choora’ and chaamar’ that Mr Bajwa used. The video that Amrik Singh Bajwa posted on TikTok in 2022 was highly toxic and casteist in content,” the spokesperson said.
The ACDA said the conviction was the result of several community organisations working together. The Thames Valley Police thanked all the key witnesses who helped with the force’s investigation into the case.
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#Indianorigin #man #jailed #TikTok #video #targetting #Dalits
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 12, 2023
Canada: Indian-origin man held for yelling religious slurs in mosque

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Toronto: In a suspected hate-motivated incident, a 28-year-old Indian-origin man has been arrested by the Canadian police on the charges of yelling threats and religious slurs at worshippers and for dangerous driving at a mosque in Ontario city, according to a media report.
Sharan Karunakaran was taken into custody in Toronto on Friday night following a call for a disturbance at the mosque on Denison Street in Markham, Ontario, the CTV News reported on Sunday.
Witnesses reported that Karunakaran attended the mosque in a vehicle and drove directly at one of the worshippers, yelling threats and religious slurs.

The suspect drove dangerously in the parking lot before leaving the property, a police official was quoted as saying in the report.
Investigators have charged a suspect with several criminal offences after a suspected hate-motivated incident at a mosque in the City of Markham, York Regional Police said in a statement.
Karunakaran has been charged with one count of uttering threats, one count of assault with a weapon, and one count of dangerous driving. The charges have not been proven in court, the report said.
Members of the Hate Crime Unit attended the mosque to offer support to its members, police said.
His next court appearance is scheduled for April 11.

On Saturday, local Member of Parliament and Federal Trade Minister Mary Ng said she was “deeply disturbed” to learn of the alleged attack.
“Deeply disturbed to hear of the violent hate crimes and racist behaviour at the Islamic Society of Markham. To Muslims in Markham and Canada, I stand with you,” she said in a tweet.
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#Canada #Indianorigin #man #held #yelling #religious #slurs #mosque
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 10, 2023
Indian-origin candidates line up for Leicester Mayor role in UK

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London: Two Indian-origin candidates are lined up to go head-to-head for the post of Leicester Mayor in the local elections coming up in the UK early next month.
Conservative Party councillor Sanjay Modhwadia will compete with Rita Patel, a former Labour councillor who announced her bid recently in order to scrap the role.
Patel, a Rushey Mead councillor from Leicester who will run as an independent, launched her campaign saying the city needed “a fresh start” and promised one of her first jobs will be to remove the mayoral role.

Sitting Labour Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, expressed disappointment at Patel’s exit from the party after she was one of four city councillors suspended for six months for their attempt to scrap the mayor’s office through a vote at a council meeting last month.
Now the Tories have confirmed Modhwadia, a city councillor for North Evington, as their candidate to challenge Soulsby who has held the job since it was created 12 years ago.
He was in the eye of the storm when Leicester witnessed sectarian clashes last September following an India-Pakistan cricket match.
Modhwadia, a local businessman, has been campaigning to push for a “Made in Leicester” brand to improve the city’s perception around the globe.
While the Tories and Rita Patel have both said they want to get rid of the mayoral role, Leicester’s Green Party has promised a public referendum on the matter. The Green Party have chosen Mags Lewis who also stood in 2019, finishing third will be their candidate.

The election is scheduled for May 4 and anyone elected may just go on to have a short stay in office.
“Many local residents have contacted our party in recent months to suggest that this is something we should do and our members have also voted in favour of removing the position of City Mayor,” Richard Tutt, Chair of the City of Leicester Conservatives told Leicester Mercury’.
Many in the eastern England city believe the Leader of the Council system is more democratic and accountable for the people of Leicester.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 9, 2023
Indian-origin data analyst killed after struck by bus at Boston airport

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New York: A 47-year-old Indian-American data analyst was killed on the spot after being struck by a bus at Boston’s international airport where he had gone to pick up a friend, according to a media report.
Vishwachand Kolla, originally from Andhra Pradesh, was an employee of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company.
He was at the Logan International Airport, Boston to pick up a visiting musician from the airport travelling to Boston when the incident took place on March 28, US media report said.

Massachusetts State Police said Kolla was at the lower level of Terminal B to pick up a friend around 5 p.m. when he was struck by a bus.
“Kolla was standing on the driver’s side of his Acura SUV while, simultaneously, the Dartmouth Transportation motor coach was travelling on the roadway. The investigation indicates that the middle of the bus made contact with Kolla and dragged him along the driver’s side of his SUV,” State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said in a statement.
An off-duty nurse rushed to help Kolla but he died at the scene, the report added.
Troopers interviewed the bus driver, a 54-year-old woman, and inspected the bus. She has not been charged at this point in the investigation, the report said.
The passengers were quickly rushed off the bus and their luggage was moved to another part of the airport.
In a statement, Dartmouth Coach said, “Our deepest sympathies are with everyone impacted by this evening’s incident at Logan Airport. We’re working in conjunction with the Massachusetts State Police and Massport to gather further information.”

Kolla worked at Takeda in the company’s Global Oncology division. Takeda industries told Boston.com in an email that they are “deeply saddened to learn of his unexpected passing.”
“We send our heartfelt condolences to Vishwachand’s family, friends and loved ones during this difficult time and will be looking at how we can help offer any support as we respect the family’s privacy during this time,” they wrote.
Meanwhile, Kolla’s relatives have set up a gofundme page USD 406,151 raised of USD 750,000 goal.
Kolla is survived by his wife, and two sons, according to the page.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 3, 2023
Indian-origin man jailed in UK for harassing parents for money

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London: A 49-year-old Indian-origin man from the West Midlands region of England, who had earlier been handed restraining orders, has now been sentenced to two years imprisonment for harassing his parents for money to fund his drug addiction.
Daevan Patel was found to have emotionally blackmailed his parents for money and flouted restraining orders preventing him from contacting them in order to get cash.
According to a court report from Wolverhampton Crown Court in Birmingham Live’, Judge John Butterfield said Patel had made his parents’ lives a “misery” by “bleeding them for money” as he sentenced him to a two-year prison term and also handed another five-year restraining order.
“You have contempt for others and for the orders of the courts,” the judge told him this week.
The court heard that Patel “relentlessly” sought money and sometimes called his parents 10 times a day, showing up at their home if they did not answer.
He was handed restraining orders to protect the parents, with the latest restraining order imposed for five years in August 2019 which allowed contact only by telephone. But Patel was jailed for breaching that.
The court report reveals that the accused, also a convicted thief, would shout at his parents to comply with his demands and they decided to inform the police after they “ran out of money to give him” and were concerned about what he might do.
Patel’s defence lawyer said his life had been ruined by drugs and told the court he intends to stay clean of drugs in the future.

He is currently serving a sentence at HMP Cardiff in Wales, where he reportedly intends to stay and not return to the West Midlands area where there is a danger of him mixing with a drugs crowd.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 1, 2023