Indian gets 39-year jail for slaying Nepali schoolgirl
A 43-year-old Indian, who had been working in Nepal as a teacher, has been sentenced to 39 years behind bars for the gruesome murder of his student last year, after which he cut up her body into pieces and dispersed them in several districts to escape detection.
The heart-wrenching story started in June after Pradhan, a gambling addict, ran up huge debts in Kathmandu’s casinos and began looking for money desperately. He knew Khati and her family closely as at one time, they had been his tenants and he had also taught her in private. The bright student was planning to go abroad for further studies and Pradhan came to know that her parents had raised a substantial sum of money for that.
Eyeing the money and considering Khyati’s family an easy target, he coerced Merina to call the girl up on her mobile phone, telling her she had been selected for a cash prize and a free trip to Pokhara city by a well-known women’s magazine. Merina then met the victim and brought her to Pradhan’s new rented digs where though surprised to see him, she accepted a cold drink offered by him, unaware that it was heavily laced with sedatives. As she fell unconscious, Pradhan hit her repeatedly with an iron rod and began chopping up her body.
Pradhan was arrested after Khyati’s mother, who had gone to the Indo-Nepal border to pay the ransom, came across him in a hotel and her suspicion was aroused. He confessed to having killed Khyati and was held in Kathmandu’s Central Jail that also houses Nepal’s most notorious convict, alleged French serial killer Charles Sobhraj.
Family of 4 commits suicide in Naroda
Four of a family – husband, wife and their two children, committed suicide by hanging themselves at their residence in Naroda on Saturday night. Preliminary investigation by the police revealed that financial crunch and mounting debts compelled them to take such an extreme step. The deceased were identified as Rajesh Unakar, 42, wife Vandana, 37, daughter Khushali, 17, and son Bhasmang, 14. Officials said Rajesh was working as a senior machine operator in a private company in Naroda GIDC. “We learnt that Rajesh was involved in gambling and cricket betting and had incurred a huge debt in such dealings.
Charges laid in Bonnyville woman’s killing
Mary Jane Corbiere, a Bonnyville woman known as Ella, was last seen Oct. 2 and was reported missing by family members Oct. 11. RCMP located human remains in Kehewin on Monday. As a result, RCMP have laid a second-degree murder charge against Jesse Colton Leppanen, 19, of Elk Point. Corbiere’s family in Bonnyville said she was living on the streets for nearly 10 years and suffered from an ongoing gambling addiction.
Former Lottery inspector admits lying to feds
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A former inspector with the West Virginia Lottery Commission admitted Wednesday that she lied to investigators about taking money from a former state delegate who ran an illegal gambling ring in West Virginia and Kentucky. Carolyn A. Kitchen, 55, of Chapmanville, admitted that she lied to investigators with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service when they questioned her about her involvement with Joe C. Ferrell in February 2008.
Ferrell, 63, pleaded guilty to racketeering and tax fraud charges last month. He said he helped Kitchen, whom he had known since she was a teenager, get her job with the Lottery Commission, knowing that she would bend the rules for the machines owned by his company. “He would call and ask me to come out after hour to fix [Southern Amusement’s] video lottery machines,” Kitchen said Wednesday.
Former boxer Keely Thompson charged with fraudulently spending $500,000 in D.C. anti-gang funds
A conviction on the charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Thompson was not required to enter a plea and was released until a Dec. 9 hearing. A well-known D.C. boxer who fought professionally as a lightweight in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Thompson was executive director of Keely’s District Boxing and Youth Center in Columbia Heights and Kenilworth. The center, serving youths from ages 8 to 18, has received more than $1.4 million in District funds for at-risk children since 2004. Prosecutors charged that between 2004 and 2010, Thompson used the boxing center’s debit card to spend $150,000 on cruises and gambling in Atlantic City, losing more than $140,000 at Bally’s casino alone.
Another accused of faking cancer charged with fraud
British Columbia woman has been charged with fraud after telling friends she had cancer. Tina Michele Sammons, from the Victoria suburb of Langford, is the fourth person to be accused of faking cancer in recent months. Ms. Sammons, 37, was arrested on Thursday and faces four counts of fraud over $5,000 for allegedly collecting $300,000 to pay for bogus cancer treatments. Ms. Harvey said she also suspected her friend had a gambling problem because Ms. Sammons frequently went to the View Royal Casino and played $7 and $14 slots. Sgt. Jantzen confirmed an addiction may be factor in the case.
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