Killing for hidden treasure
The murders had taken place on the banks of two rivers in Maddur town, about 80 km from here. The gang was nabbed from their residences in Bangalore on January 14. Police suspects that the gang must have been involved in more such crimes.
According to Police Commissioner Rao, a 'tantrik' had told Ravindra that he would get a "hidden treasure' in his room if he sacrificed women. Ravindra decided to conduct the sacrifice with the help of his four accomplices identified as Mohan, Shekar, Ravikumar and Chandrashekar.
He won the confidence of two women, Aruna and Elizabeth, who had certain family problems. He offered to help get rid of the problems by performing pooja.
On December 12, 2007, the gang took Aruna by an autorickshaw from here to Bellur village in Mandya district for the 'pooja'.
While performing pooja that night, Ravindra asked Aruna to place her head on a stone and pray for the success of the pooja with her eyes closed. While the unsuspecting woman was praying, the accused smashed her head with another stone and escaped with her jewellery.
Two days later, the gang managed to take Elizabeth to a place near Maddur in the same district. They used a similar modus operandi to murder her too, Rao said.
'Ask my guru, treasure is still there'
The police are tracking down the 'guru' who advised Ravindra. "My guru confirmed the treasure is that house. But it's dangerous to dig it out without performing human sacrifice," Ravindra told the police. Ravindra had done a paramedical course. "People should not entertain any tricksters who approach them with ideas of puja for a better life," a senior police officer said.
Hidden Treasure finder losses $ 216,000
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Jan 17, 2008 that Ernesto Tapanes, 39, agreed to pay more than $216,000 to settle the charges in the case involving the 18th century shipwreck, code-named Black Swan.
The shipwreck is the subject of a federal lawsuit, with Spain contending it is entitled to the treasure if it comes from one of its sunken ships, or if the treasure was removed from its territorial waters.
The SEC said Tapanes was working for Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (OMEX.O: Quote, Profile, Research) as an oceanographic surveying consultant in March 2007 when he identified and photographed an anomaly off the coast of Gibraltar.
A federal judge ruled earlier this month that Odyssey Marine must reveal to Spain the exact location of the shipwreck and the items recovered from it.
At the time of Tapanes' discovery, the company kept the Black Swan a closely guarded secret for weeks and required its workers to sign a confidentiality agreement that required two things of employees and consultants including Tapanes: Keep the discovery secret, and don't trade in company stock. Tapanes signed that document April 4, the SEC said.
The SEC said Tapanes signed the agreement on April 4, 2007, and that same day started buying Odyssey Marine stock through his E*Trade account.
In total, Tapanes bought 42,000 shares of stock from April 4 through May 15, 2007, the agency said.
Three days after that, Odyssey Marine issued a press release about its discovery and excavation of 17 tons of coins and other artifacts from the Black Swan.
The stock soared that day, closing up almost 81 percent, and continued to rise for several more days.
The SEC said Tapanes started selling his entire Odyssey Marine holdings after the announcement, reaping more than $107,000 in profits.
Treasure hunter Ernesto Tapanes
Finding one of the world's largest sunken treasures has not ended well for Ernesto Tapanes.
Deal Doesn't Rule Out Criminal Charges
The SEC said Tapanes has consented to a specific punishment, without admitting or denying any allegations, and will disgorge $107,101.92, plus prejudgment interest of $2,151.56, and a civil penalty of $107,101.92. The total fine: $216,355.40.
Treasure hunter Ernesto Tapanes, 39, has agreed to a permanent injunction and a $216,000 disgorgement and civil penalty from the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider stock trading.
Tapanes is an oceanographic surveying consultant involved in the Black Swan treasure discovery. He is a Canadian citizen with residences in Ontario and Fort Lauderdale, and worked for Tampa-based Odyssey Marine (NASDAQ: OMEX) since 2002.
Odyssey Marine
Odyssey Marine is a deep-ocean shipwreck exploration and Excavation Company that seeks to locate and excavate treasure-laden shipwrecks. The Black Swan find -- estimated at more than $500 million -- is the largest sunken treasure of its kind ever found and recovered.
On March 30, Tapanes identified and photographed an anomaly on the ocea floor that turned out to be the treasure ship. By April 11, the Odyssey Explorer, a sister ship, had recovered more than 17 tons of gold and silver coins, as well as other historical artifacts.
All crew and consultants were required to sign non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements prohibiting them disclosing the find or trading in Odyssey marine stock because of their non-public knowledge of the discovery.
In violation of the agreement and his position of trust, Tapanes purchased shares of Odyssey Marine during April and May before the public announcement that the treasure had been discovered.
Soon after Odyssey announced the find on May 17, Tapanes sold all his shares for a profit of $107,000.
In the consent order, Tapanes neither confirmed nor denied the charges against him, but agreed to all the civil penalties.
Note:
Don’t think that Sonia is Hindi name. Sonia is a Russian name which was given by Sonia Antonia Maino’s father to her. Gandhi vs Sonia in UNO: Bofors to Ramdrohi Affidavit
Find two blind followers of Christian Sonia Gandhi:
(1) Gold is called in India Sona. Don’t connect this article with Ambika Soni. Is still doubt about the main conspirator behind the Ramdrohi
Affidavit?
(2) So-called fake secular leaders are victim of inferiority complex. Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Aug 26, 07 in Lucknow said the books that propounded the glorious past of India were liable to be burnt
History of bove would be written in blackwords, not in golden words.
E-mail: agrawapremendra@hotmail.com
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