Swiss investigators said Friday that they believe sparkling flares atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire at a ski resort when they came too close to a crowded bar's ceiling. Forty people were killed, and another 119 were injured in the blaze as it ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar at the ski resort of Crans-Montana while revellers were celebrating New Year's Eve, authorities said. Among the crowd was Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old from Paris, who said he felt as if he was suffocating inside the Swiss Alpine bar where moments before he had been ringing in the new year with friends and dozens of other people. The teenager escaped the inferno, which broke out early Thursday, by forcing a window open with a table. But about 40 other partygoers died, including one of Clavier's friends, falling victim to one of the worst tragedies in Switzerland's history. Many of the wounded were in their teens to mid-20s, police said. Clavier told The Associated Press t...
The arrest of self-styled godman Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati has led to the discovery of WhatsApp chats that shed light on his alleged exploitation of young women students.
One of the most striking exchanges shows Chaitanyanand trying to arrange what he described as a meeting with a "Dubai Sheikh." In a conversation with an alleged student, the 62-year-old wrote:
Delhi Baba: "One Dubai Sheikh wants to [have] a sex partner, do you have any nice friend?"
Victim: "Koi nahi hai" (There is no one).
Delhi Baba: "How it's possible?"
Victim: "I don't know."
Delhi Baba: "Your any classmate? Junior?"
In other chats, Chaitanyananda repeatedly addresses a victim (unclear if this is the same woman as above) in infantilising terms, such as "Sweetie Baby Daughter Doll," and sends obsessive messages across the day and late into the night:
"Babyyyyy" (7:49 PM)
"Baby where are you?" (11:59 PM)
"Good Morning Baby" (12:40 PM)
"Why are you angry with me?" (12:41 PM)
On another occasion, he wrote:
"Good Evening my most beloved baby daughter doll."
Victim: "Here afternoon sir, happy afternoon. Did you have something sir?"
In another exchange, he joked about "doing some disco dance" and asked if the victim wanted to join him. "Wow sir osm," she replied, seemingly out of politeness.
In one conversation, he asks a student, "You'll not sleep with me?"
The Arrest In Agra
Chaitanyananda, accused of harassing at least 17 women students, was arrested around 3:30 am on Sunday from a hotel in Agra's Taj Ganj area. Police said he had been evading capture for nearly two months, moving between Vrindavan, Mathura, and Agra, often staying in small hotels and using taxis to avoid detection.
According to police, he checked into the Agra hotel on September 27 under the alias "Partha Sarathi" and stayed in Room 101. Staff said he remained in his room until his arrest.
He is now in five days of police custody and will likely be confronted with three female aides from the institute who allegedly helped him threaten students and delete incriminating messages.
During the arrest, police seized an iPad and three mobile phones, one of which had remote access to the institute's CCTV cameras and hostel premises.
Fake visiting cards naming him as a "Permanent Ambassador" to the UN Economic and Social Council and a "Special Envoy" for BRICS were also recovered. Documents such as two passports, one under the name "Swami Parth Sarathi" and another as "Swami Chaitanyanand Saraswati," with contradictory details of birthplace and parentage, were found. Police have frozen assets worth Rs 8 crore.
Investigators also discovered that he had withdrawn more than Rs 50 lakh after the FIR was filed in August, allegedly using fraudulent documents.
The allegations first emerged from female students enrolled at his private management institute in Delhi. The FIR states he forced some students to visit his quarters late at night and sent sexually explicit messages at odd hours.
from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/nK4e69y
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