Father, mother and son hospitalised after taking overdose of sleeping pills

In a shocking incident, three members of a family tried to commit suicide by taking overdose of sleeping pills on Tuesday afternoon at Safal Parivesh building in Satellite area.

Parvez Bharucha, 60, Beroz Bharucha, 57, and their son Roozan Bharucha, 27, allegedly tried to commit suicide by consuming overdose of sleeping pills at their house, said the Satellite police. The police have recovered three suicide notes, written in English, from their house.

Noted social worker and environment activist Alex Sandra Jhala was brutally assaulted by her neighbours late on Monday night. Jhala, who sustained injuries on her head, legs and right hand, was rushed to hospital in a critical condition.

According to Jhala, who lives in Parth Apartment near Jodhpur road, she was attacked by Nainesh Patel, Shailesh Patel, Alpesh Patel, Deepak Patel and Daya Patel. She said her neighbours forcibly entered her house and attacked her with sharp weapons including pipes, knives and swords.

Jhala, a former journalist, is a social worker and founding member of Garibi Sijdi and is also president of an NGO, Animal Lover.

Narendra Parmar had a pistol with him when he was shot dead

A Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) contractor on Tuesday night was shot dead by unidentified criminals near his office in Mithakali area. The victim, Narendra Jitendrasinh Parmar, had served in the army for 15 years before retiring to become a contractor for the GEB.

Sources said Parmar left his office, Parth Earth Movers, located in Sil Complex, Mithakali, and came down to the road. He was about to get into his Scorpio four-wheeler when 4-5 criminals fired at him. Parmar, who was shot in the head, died on the spot.

Parmar, a resident of Chandrapuri society, Vastrapur, is survived by his wife and two daughters.

City police have achieved little besides recording statements of suspects

The city was rocked recently by some cases of crime that happened almost back to back. If the sensational shootout at Paldi, rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl at Bapunagar, gruesome murder of city-based physician in the outskirts of the city, a daring dacoity in an angadia firm besides a host of thefts and break-ins that are almost a regular occurrence have shocked citizens, their days of trauma aren't yet over, thanks to our city police's inability to solve the cases and catch the culprits.

DCP (traffic) MM Anarwala added that they hoped the drive would draw the attention of parents and school principals to the unsafe manner in which many schoolchildren were ferried to school. “Parents and principals ought to pay more attention to the children’s safety,” he said.

The traffic department has constituted a 30-member task force under one PI to enforce traffic rules in the city. The task force has been active in different parts of Ahmedabad to check violation of traffic rules.

Traffic police stop 40 vans and autos ferrying kids to school; children made to sweat it out on the roads

Many schoolchildren in the city were literally made to sweat it out on the roads on Tuesday, when they found themselves caught between a zealous traffic police department and the private vans and auto-rickshaw owners who ferry them to school in overloaded vehicles.

The city’s traffic police launched a campaign on Tuesday against vans and auto-rickshaws that were found carrying more than the stipulated 14 and 6 schoolchildren, respectively. As many as 40 school vans and auto-rickshaws ferrying children to school were stopped at Commerce six-roads and Darpan six-roads at 7 am. The vehicles were not released till 5 pm.