Date:18/12/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/18/stories/2004121813640500.htm

Currency racket busted

Alertness of a film theatre cashier helped the police bust a fake currency racket at Jeedimetla on Friday. A resident of Gandhinagar, Kanakaiah, 25 went to the local Bhujanga theatre and gave him a Rs. 100 note for a ticket. The clerk grew suspicious and handed him over to the police. During interrogation, Kanakaiah confessed to the police that a gang had given him 40 counterfeit currency notes of Rs. 100 denomination after taking Rs. 2,000 genuine currency from him. The police raided the house and caught the alleged kingpin of the racket, Nagaraju, and others involved.

Labourer killed

A labourer, Ramulu (38), was beaten to death while resisting an alleged rape attempt on his wife by a group of drunken men near their hut at Netajinagar of Kushaiguda on Friday. Around midnight, a group of drunken men barged into their hut and attempted to rape her, the Kushaiguda police said. When Ramulu woke up, some of the intruders dragged him outside. A few minutes later, she found her husband with injuries. He died on Friday at a local hospital.

Bereaved man ends life

Dejected by suicide of his wife, Kamala, 25, who hanged herself in the morning, Subramanyam, 28, a private engineering college lecturer, killed himself by consuming pesticide a few hours later on Friday.

They were living in Vaidehinagar of Vanasthalipuram.

2 die in mishaps

An airlines employee, E. Javier, 45, died on the spot when an RTC bus hit his scooter at Hakeempet on Friday morning. A resident of Ghatkesar, the victim was going to his office when the mishap occurred, the Alwal police said.

K. Radhakrishna Sharma, 49, manager of the State Bank of Hyderabad, Begumpet branch, who was knocked down by an RTC bus while riding a two-wheeler at Kukatpally on Thursday, succumbed to the injuries on Friday.

Three held

Three members of a gang, who allegedly took away Rs. 3.8 lakhs from a scrap shop worker after hurling chilli powder on his face at Bahadurpura petrol pump a week ago, were arrested by the Hyderabad police Task Force (South) on Friday.

An amount of Rs. 2.8 lakhs, a mobile, a Maruthi van and a motorcycle were seized from them, a press release said.