Daily News Dose: Yellow alert for 8 districts in Kerala tomorrow | May 21, 2022

Hello, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Vishnu, and these are the major news stories of the day:

1. Actress Assault Case: Neyyattinkara Bishop deposes to Crime Branch over filmmaker Balachandrakumar's claims

2. Police seek help of embassies to trace Vijay Babu amid reports of flight to Georgia

3. Saudi-returnee's death: Police suspect involvement of gold-smuggling gang  

4. Yellow alert for 8 districts in Kerala tomorrow; expect incessant rain, strong winds

5. Thailand Open: Sindhu goes down to Chen Yu Fei in semifinals

Let's get into the details:

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1. The Crime Branch on Saturday recorded the statement of Neyyattinkara Bishop Rev Dr Vincent Samuel regarding a recent case filed against actor Dileep on the charge of plotting to kill a couple of cops who investigated the crime of sexual assault of an actress in 2017.

The statement was recorded on the basis of film director Balachandrakumar's claim that the Bishop helped Dileep to secure bail in the previous case in which he is a co-accused.

The Bishop reportedly told the police that he did not help Dileep in any way for securing bail, but admitted that he knew Balachandrakumar.

The police recorded the statement of the Bishop at Kottayam. Earlier, Balachandrakumar had given a statement to the police that the Bishop and Dileep shared a very close bond and the Bishop tried to exert undue influence in order to secure bail for Dileep.

The statement of Dr Vincent Samuel was earlier recorded by the probe team as part of the further inquiry into the actress assault case.

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2. The Kochi City police have sought the help of foreign embassies to trace film actor-producer Vijay Babu, who has been absconding after being accused in a case of sexually assaulting a young actress.

After coming to know that his passport would be cancelled, Babu likely escaped to 'Georgia' from Dubai two days ago, as per the information obtained by the police. 

However, it is not known whether he has gone to the country Georgia, formerly part of erstwhile USSR, or the state Georgia in the USA.

A close relative of Babu is said to be in the US state of Georgia. He also had the visa to visit the US. But as his passport has been cancelled, he cannot leave the country where he is currently hiding.

The police plan to locate Babu by checking his travel details with the help of foreign embassies, and bring the accused back to the state.

As reported the other day the Union External Affairs Ministry has revoked his passport. 

According to reports, Babu anticipated such a move and likely crossed over from the Gulf city to another country which does not have an extradition treaty with India on handing over wanted criminals.

He was reportedly hiding in Dubai, ever since he had been booked in the sexual assault case a month ago.

It was on April 22 that the actress, a newcomer, had complained to the Kochi Police that she was sexually assaulted by the actor many times.

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3. The police have taken eight people into custody over the death of an Agali native who had been brutally beaten up while he was on his way home after returning from Saudi Arabia. The police suspect that a gold-smuggling gang was behind the incident.

Forty-two-year-old Abdul Jaleel succumbed to the injuries at a private hospital in Perinthalmanna on Friday. An unidentified gang had kidnapped Jaleel, and brutally assaulted him with the intention to kill him, as per the police FIR.

The cops are probing whether the gang used Jaleel, or whether he had fallen victim to the rivalry between gangs, or if any other deal had been made.

The probe is currently focusing on Melattur native Yahiya, suspected to be the mastermind of the incident. He is absconding, according to the police.

The CCTV footage shows that Yahiya had taken the unconscious Jaleel to the hospital on Thursday night, while claiming that he had found him injured by the roadside. The police reckon that the CCTV footage of Yahiya bringing in Jaleel to the hospital would be crucial in the probe.

Jaleel had called home from the airport and an unknown person had later called his kin to say that Jaleel had been hospitalised. Both the calls were found to be made from the same number.

Jaleel, who was admitted to the hospital with grievous injuries, died during the wee hours of Friday. After completing the inquest procedures at the Manjeri Medical College Hospital, the body was taken to his native place and the funeral was held.

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4. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert on Sunday for eight districts of Kerala where incessant rainfall has been predicted. The alert has been issued in Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kannur. These districts can expect rainfall between 64.5mm and 115.5mm. 

A 'yellow alert' signifies heavy rainfall between 6 to 11 cm in 24 hours. People should stay away from rivers and other water bodies until the rains subside.

Meanwhile, The Met department has warned fishermen against going to sea till further information following the prediction for strong winds up to 60 km per hour and bad weather along the Kerala-Karnataka coast.

Fishing has also been prohibited along the Kerala-Lakshadweep coast. In view of possible high tides and sea erosion, people living in such areas along the coast should shift to safer places as and when directed by the authorities.

Fishermen and coastal population have been asked to be on alert. Boats, nets and other fishing equipment should be kept safely in fishing harbours. Visit to beaches, going to sea for fun should be avoided.

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5. Star India shuttler P V Sindhu made an exit from the Thailand Open after going down in straight games to Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei in the semifinals here on Saturday. 

Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, lost 17-21, 16-21 to third-seeded Chen in 43 minutes to end an impressive run in the Super 500 tournament.

Sindhu, seeded sixth, enjoyed a 6-4 head-to-head count coming into the match but she was not at her usual self against the Chinese, who dished out an aggressive badminton to come up trumps against the Indian.

The 26-year-old from Hyderabad had lost to Chen the last time they faced off at the 2019 BWF World Tour Finals as well.

Sindhu, who has won two Super 300 titles this season at the Syed Modi International and Swiss Open, will next compete at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 scheduled to be held in Jakarta from June 7 to 12.

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That brings us to the end of this episode. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.