Daily News Dose: Were visuals of Elanthoor human sacrifice posted on dark web? | Oct 15, 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. We start off with a disturbing development. Cyber crime investigators are checking whether the visuals of the double human sacrifice in Kerala's Elanthoor had been shot and posted in the dark web in real-time. 

2. In yet another worrying study, India ranks 107th on the Global Hunger Index 2022, survey places country under 'serious' category

3. The Supreme Court stays the Bombay HC's order acquitting Saibaba and others in the Maoist links case 

4. A total of 1,237 criminal cases have been registered against the now-banned Popular Front of India in Kerala; the highest number of cases is in Thrissur

5. On a brighter note, Indian women outclass Sri Lanka to clinch Asia Cup for the seventh time

Let's get into the details....

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1. The investigation of the double human sacrifice case at Elanthoor in Pathanamthitta is far from over. Now, the police have called on cyber crime investigators to check whether the accused had shot the visuals of the chilling crime and posted it in real-time in the dark web.

There are reports of murder and suicide footage being posted in real-time in the ‘red rooms' within the dark web. The attempt is to find out if the footage of the horrifying murders at Elanthoor turned up in such dodgy online spaces.

Two women, Padmam and Rosly, were killed at Elanthoor as part of the human sacrifice. Their post-mortem went on for 48 hours the other day. The procedure took so long as the doctors had the strenuous task of differentiating and identifying the mutilated body parts. Padmam's body had been cut into 56 pieces and buried. As Rosly's body had mostly decayed, only the bones were obtained.

The dark web is a special layer on the internet which cannot be accessed by ordinary cyber users. It is operated using anonymous web browsers. Even the computers on which such browsers work will not be able to identify the presence of the dark web.

Illicit transactions worth crores of rupees by way of drug trafficking, arms trafficking and the sale of child pornography videos are taking place on the dark web regularly.

At the time of reporting, police were scouring the house and premises of the accused for more bodies.

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2. India ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022 with its child wasting rate at 19.3 per cent, being the highest in the world.

The Global Hunger Index is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels.

With a score of 29.1, the level of hunger in India has been labelled "serious".

In Asia, Afghanistan with a rank of 109 is the only country behind India.

Neighbouring countries – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka have all fared better than India.

In 2021, India ranked 101 out of 116 countries, while in 2020 the country was placed in 94th position.

South Asia, the region with the world's highest hunger level, has the highest child stunting rate and by far the highest child wasting rate in the world, the report said.

India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan each have child stunting rates between 35 and 38 per cent, with Afghanistan's rate being the highest in the region.

Undernourishment prevalence rose in India from 14.6 per cent in 2018-2020 to 16.3 per cent in 2019-2021. This translates into 224.3 million people in India being undernourished out of the total 828 million people globally.

Child wasting which is a strong predictor of mortality among children under five years of age also worsened from 15.1 per cent in 2012-16 to 19.3 per cent in 2017-21.

India, however, noted improvement in two parameters of child stunting from 38.7 per cent in 2012-16 to 35.5 per cent in 2017-21 and child mortality from 4.6 per cent in 2014 to 3.3 per cent in 2020.

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3. The Supreme Court on Saturday suspended the Bombay High Court order acquitting former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba and others in a Maoist-links case.

The high court acquitted Saibaba and others in the case on Friday.

An apex court bench of justices M R Shah and Bela M Trivedi, which sat on a non-working day to hear the matter, also rejected Saibaba's request for putting him under house arrest in view of his physical disability and health conditions.

It stayed the release of all the accused in the case, including Saibaba, from jail, as directed by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court.

It sought responses from Saibaba and the other accused on a plea moved by the Maharashtra government against the high court order.

More than eight years after his arrest, the Bombay High Court acquitted Saibaba on Friday and ordered his release from jail, noting that the sanction order issued to prosecute the accused in the case under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was "bad in law and invalid".

The Nagpur bench of the high court allowed Saibaba's appeal, challenging a 2017 order of the trial court that convicted him in the case and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Saibaba, 52, who is wheelchair-bound due to a physical disability, is currently lodged in the Nagpur central prison. He was arrested in February 2014.

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4. Police on Saturday revealed that a total of 1,237 criminal cases have been registered against the now-banned Popular Front of India in Kerala so far. The cases include murder, attempted murder and break-in.

Thrissur city has the highest number of cases at 258, followed by Malappuram at 208 and Kottayam at 154.

The police cases were codified on a district basis following the recent Central government ban on the outfit. Information regarding the cases has been forwarded to the central agencies concerned.

The data has been categorised into those currently in jail, those out on bail and those who have been acquitted. The district police chiefs have been instructed to keep an eye on the PFI workers out on bail. Their financial transactions are also under surveillance.

Meanwhile, banks in the state have commenced the process of freezing the accounts of PFI workers, whose details are being handed over by the police.

However, in some cases, only the name and mobile number of the individual are provided, which makes it difficult for banks to zero in on the person's account details.

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5. India maintained their dominance in the Women's Asia Cup with an eight-wicket demolition of a self-destructing Sri Lanka in the final on Saturday for their seventh title in eight editions.

Sri Lanka, who were playing their first tournament final in 14 years, imploded after opting to bat on a slow and turning pitch. They could only manage 65/9, which India knocked off in 8.3 overs. Smriti Mandhana struck a sublime 51 not out off 25 balls. 

It was a procession after Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu got run out in the third over following a mix up with Anushka Sanjeewani who too got run out six balls later.

The Indians bowled with discipline but poor shot selection contributed more to Sri Lanka's steep slide. After a memorable win over Pakistan in the semifinals, it seemed the occasion got the better of Sri Lanka.

The win is a shot in the arm for India's preparations for the T20 World Cup next year. They were able to test players for different roles during the competition, though that also contributed to their only loss in the tournament, against Pakistan in the league stage.

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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.