India's quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry is showing early signs of demand recovery, but Macquarie highlights rising costs and intensifying competition from food-delivery aggregators as reasons for its cautiousness. According to Macquarie, post-fourth-quarter trends indicate a gradual improvement in dine-in demand across restaurant chains. Within the sector, Macquarie remains most constructive on franchise operators Devyani International, Sapphire Foods and Westlife Foodworld. However, the recovery remains uneven and is being overshadowed by inflationary pressures and the growing dominance of delivery platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy. The brokerage said same-store sales growth across the listed QSR universe is tracking broadly in line with or slightly ahead of fourth-quarter levels. However, restaurant brands continue to trail delivery aggregators in growth, highlighting a structural shift in consumer behaviour. To counter this trend, restaurant operators have increa...
In a heart-wrenching incident that has left the Kerala society in shock, a minor girl was brutally raped and strangulated to death after she was abducted by a migrant worker from her house, police said on Saturday.
A police official quoting autopsy report said the five-year-old child was raped and strangulated to death. Her body was found dumped in a sack in a marshy area behind a local market in the nearby Aluva today.
The girl went missing on Friday and the man was arrested later in the day.
"We received the complaint at 7.10 PM and an FIR was registered before 8 PM on Friday. Our team checked the CCTV visuals and found that the child was with the labourer. We apprehended him at 9.30 PM itself. However, he was in an inebriated state and the child was not with him," Ernakulam Rural SP, Vivek Kumar told the media.
Kumar told PTI that based on the medical examination, the girl was raped and strangulated to death.
Child of a migrant couple from Bihar, the girl went missing from her house at the Garage junction near here on Friday evening. The girl's body was found dumped in a sack in a marshy area behind a local market. She was brutally assaulted, sexually abused and the accused used garbage and sacks to cover the body, police said.
Based on the CCTV visuals, police arrested the labourer hailing from Bihar, who was staying in a room on the first floor of the building where the child's family was residing.
Police said initally on Friday night they found it difficult to interrogate and gather details from the accused who was intoxicated.
"Today morning, he confessed to the crime. However, he also tried to mislead the investigation team," Kochi Range DIG, Srinivas A, told reporters.
Earlier in the day, locals informed the police of seeing the child with the migrant worker near the market area on Friday.
Police rushed to the spot, searched the area along with the locals, and recovered the girl's body.
People said the land behind the market is an isolated area and is also a waste dump site.
The area was frequented by anti-social elements and alcohol and drug consumption was rampant there, they said.
A local trade union worker told the media that he saw the migrant worker with the child on Friday.
"I asked him who the girl was. He claimed that it was his child and said he was going behind the market area to drink alcohol. However, today morning I saw the CCTV visuals of the missing child and the worker on social media and informed the police," the union worker said.
Meanwhile, Kerala police today posted an apology to the family of the victim on all its social media handles saying that their efforts to reunite the child with her parents proved unsuccessful.
The opposition Congress came down heavily on the state police and alleged lapses on their part in tracing the child.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, V D Satheesan said the child was inside Aluva town itself and was not found on time.
The LoP said the police failed to act even after it was clear that the accused had abducted the child.
"The situation is such that even children are not safe these days. The police claim that over usage of drugs and alcohol led to this crime," Satheesan said.
He said the government was unable to control the use of liquor and drugs in the society and urged the Left government to take stern action.
"The police were not cautious enough even after knowing that a child was abducted," Satheesan alleged.
KPCC chief K Sudhakaran urged the government to provide appropriate compensation to the family of the child.
Meanwhile, state police chief Shaik Darvesh Saheb rejected the charges and said there were no lapses on behalf of the investigators.
Rural SP Kumar had earlier in the day told the media that the accused was nabbed within an hour after the police were informed about the crime.
Ministers including V Sivankutty, Veena George and P Rajeeve condemned the brutal crime and expressed deep sorrow over the incident.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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