An under-trial prisoner died after being found unconscious in his cell in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district Saturday, the police said.
The family of Yogesh Rathod (29), the deceased, alleged that he was tortured by police which led to his death.
Rathod, a resident of Bharamba Tanda in Kannad tehsil of the district, had been arrested a few days ago in a case of house trespass, a police official said.
He was sent to Harsul prison after a court remanded him in judicial custody.
He was found unconscious in his cell Saturday evening and rushed to a government-run hospital where he was declared dead, the official said.
While his family members alleged that he died due to police torture, the exact cause of death will be known after autopsy, he added.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led high-powered panel on CBI chief will meet on Thursday and discuss probable names for the coveted post.
The panel meeting will be attended by Chief Justice of India Rajan Gogoi or his nominee and Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, officials said.
Among the officers whose name would be discussed at the meeting are J K Sharma and Parminder Rai from the 1982 batch — the senior most but lacking experience in the CBI.
Rai, a Haryana-cadre officer who is set to retire on January 31, 2019, is Director General, State Vigilance Bureau, which makes him eligible for the post, the officials said.
Special Secretary (Internal Security), Home Ministry, Rina Mitra of the 1983-batch is another contender. She served in the CBI for five years and had a long tenure in Madhya Pradesh state vigilance where she handled serious corruption cases.
Mitra headed the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, an organisation tasked to combat organised wildlife crime, in its early years, they said, adding that if chosen, she would become the first woman chief of the CBI.
Current chief of National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences Javeed Ahmed, a 1984-batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, has served the CBI for 13 years — starting as an SP to DIG from 1994 to 2002 and as joint director from 2009-14, they said.
He could not be promoted to post of Additional Director, CBI, as the then Home Secretary Anil Goswami had not cleared the empanelment file of the entire 1984-batch IPS officers till his term came to an end, they said.
Goswami was forced to resign for trying to stall the arrest of a former Union minister in a case, they said.
Ahmed was posted as Uttar Pradesh DGP and he led many initiatives like Twitter outreach campaign, UP100 and special help line for women.
Closely following him in terms of experience is O P Galhotra, former Rajasthan DGP, who has served in the agency for 11 years — as an SP from 1996-2000 and as a Joint Director from 2008-15, the officials said.
H C Awasthy, Galhotra’s batchmate from the UP cadre, also served in the agency for over eight years, they said.
Director General, National Investigation Agency, Y C Modi, a 1984-batch IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, is a favourite in the race to the top post in the CBI.
Y C Modi was part of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team which probed the 2002 riots in Gujarat from 2010 to 2012. The SIT had cleared Narendra Modi who was then the chief minister of the state.
Y C Modi was also part of the CBI team that probed the murder of former Gujarat minister Haren Pandya and arrested 12 accused. But the evidence was rejected by the Gujarat High Court which acquitted all the accused, they said.
Director General of CISF Rajesh Ranjan, a 1984-batch Bihar cadre officer, has served in the agency for nearly five years and also in Interpol.
He was never inducted into the CBI after 2011 as there were “vigilance issues”, the officials said.
BSF Director General Rajni Kant Mishra, a 1984-batch officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre is also being considered a frontrunner for the post of the CBI Director, they said.
He is retiring in August, 2019 and had served for nearly five years in the agency.
Another contender DG Indo-Tibetan Border Police S S Deshwal has five years’ experience of working in the CBI, they said.
Arun Kumar, a 1985-batch officer of the UP cadre, who led the first CBI team that probed the Aarushi case, is also in the race.
The report prepared by him indicting three servants of the Talwars in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case was rejected by the then CBI chief Ashwani Kumar as he was not convinced by the evidence.
Other contenders from the 1985-batch include Rishi Raj Singh and Loknath Behera from Kerala cadre who have around 6 and 10 years’ of experience in the CBI respectively.
Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik has also been shortlisted but he lacks experience in the agency, the officials said adding that experience in the vigilance unit of the state compensates it.
The selection panel would meet Thursday to find a replacement for Alok Verma was removed as the CBI director on Januray 10, three weeks before he was to demit his office.
A 1979-batch IPS officer, Verma was locked in a bitter tussle with agency’s Special Director Rakesh Asthana, a 1984-batch IPS officer.
The BJP suffered a setback in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday as one of its four MLAs resigned from his Assembly membership and the party.
Akula Satyanarayana, MLA from Rajamahendravaram (Urban) constituency said that he sent-in his resignation letter to Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao. He also sent another letter to BJP state president Kanna Lakshmi Narayana stating that he was quitting the party as well. Later, Satyanarayana issued a statement to the media here announcing his resignation, but did not specify any reasons for his action.
A doctor, who was elected to the Assembly for the first time in 2014, said that he would join the Jana Sena Party of actor Pawan Kalyan on Monday. Satyanarayana was one of the four MLAs to have been elected on behalf of the BJP, which fought the 2014 election in alliance with the TDP. However, he had been staying away from party affairs for some time now, reportedly disgruntled that the BJP did not honour its promises made to the state post-bifurcation.
Sources close to him said Satyanarayana would speak out after formally joining the Jana Sena. Meanwhile, speculation is rife in political circles that another BJP MLA P Vishnu Kumar Raju from Visakhapatnam North was also ready to leave the BJP. While he is non-committal on which party he may join upon quitting the BJP, Raju has reportedly been telling his close friends that he will contest the upcoming Assembly election again from Visakhapatnam North constituency.
A girl studying in Class 10 was detained by Murbad police in the district on Sunday for allegedly strangulating a neighbour’s two-year-old baby. The incident took place at Tulai village, said inspector Ajay Vasave of the local police.
Manishka (2 yrs old) went missing while playing near her house on Saturday evening following which local people along with the police launched a search in the area, he said.
Suspecting that the 16-year-old girl who lived nearby might be involved in the child’s disappearance, the police searched her house sometime after midnight and found the child’s body concealed in the house, he said.
The two-year-old girl had been apparently strangulated though the autopsy report was not yet available. The accused was scolded by the victim’s mother a few days ago and the girl wanted to take revenge which allegedly led her to commit the crime, the inspector said.
A case of murder under IPC section 302 has been registered.
Indian tennis player Ankita Raina on Sunday won her first singles title of the 2019 season and eighth overall after trampling top seed Arantxa Rus in straight sets in the final of the $25,000 event in Singapore.
Coming into the tournament after competing at the Australian Open Qualifiers, Ankita demolished world number 122 and the Dutch top seed 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 23 minutes. Ankita toppled four seeded players in the tournament starting with Dutch eighth seed Lesley Kerkhove in the second round. The gritty 25-year-old followed that up with wins over second seed Uzbek Sabina Sharipova and third seed Conny Perrin from Switzerland.
The 50 points earned from the title triumph are likely to catapult Ankita to a career-high singles rank of 168 when the new WTA list is issued on Monday.
“I’ve been working on my serve for a long while now and I think it’s starting to help. I also feel there’s more power in the strokes. It definitely helped playing the Grand Slam as the first tournament of the year. It gave a lot of positivity and self belief,” Ankita told PTI from Singapore. “Even though I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t qualify for the Australian Open since I expected that but I was grateful that I had reached where once I used to imagine I would be playing.” It is Ankita’s fourth title at the USD 25k level and the others were at the $10,000 level.
Last year she won two titles Gwalior (25k) and Nonthaburi (25k). The Asian Games bronze medallist said the changes made to the circuit have made even the USD 25k tournaments much tougher. “This tournament, even though it was 25k event, was a tough competition as all the qualifying players from Melbourne were here and also the last (in entry) was 250th ranked. I played seeded players from the second round itself and saw a lot of things that I was working on with my coach (Hemant Bendre) a few days ago. “There were a few things that I needed to work on mentally which I am happy I could work with my coach as he was around before the tournament. He eventually left after the first round match due to other commitments back home. Also the things I am working for the last six months are paying off. In fact, we were working on it in the Australian open and will continue,” she added.
Ankita will play two more tournaments before gearing up for the Fed Cup, starting in the first week of February at Astana, Kazakhstan.
Indian women’s football team coach Maymol Rockey is confident of the squad’s success ahead of their first friendly match against Hong Kong. Rockey said that the match is a “space to test permutations and combinations in the team”.
“Every team presents its own challenges. Hong Kong is no different. In fact, they have some players who could hurt us if we are not on the top of our game. However, it does not matter to us if it is a friendly match or not, we will be going all out for a win,” AIFF quoted Maymol, as saying.
“We are looking to test our permutations and combinations in these matches. We will also experiment with our tactics,” she added.
Indian women’s team are playing four Friendlies – two against Hong Kong in Hong Kong, followed by two against Indonesia in Indonesia. The matches have been organised to help the team prepare in the best shape for the forthcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Qualifiers Round 2.
The coach said that such matches help giving players the much-needed experience and help them evolve.
“The biggest advantage of playing friendly matches is that it gives the players the much need match experience. Against an opponent like Hong Kong, it will only help evolve the players better,” she maintained.
For the players, the match aids to prove themselves on the pitch against a “strong opponent.” Indian defender Jabamani Tudu said, “The opposition will also be looking for a win, so will we. There is no doubt it will be a tough clash. The Friendly does not mean that we will sit back and relax. We will be gunning for a win.”
Another Indian defender Dalima Chibber said that the clash is an opportunity for them to test their skills and prove themselves.
“It is also an opportunity for us to prove ourselves and test our skills. We have been preparing hard for the Olympic Qualifiers Round 2, and the road starts with these matches. We will look to build our pedigree here as we approach the main tournament,” Chibber said.
India are slated to play their first friendly match against Hong Kong on January 21.
Surabhi Patwari of West Bengal and Manush Shah of Gujarat emerged individual champions in the Under-21 section in Table Tennis at the Khelo India Youth Games, which came to an end on Sunday.
In an all-West Bengal starrer, the U-21 girls’ singles final went down to the wire as Surabhi Patwari and Kaushani Nath showed exceptional skills.
The match was interestingly poised at three sets all, and the decider turned out to be cracker.
Surabhi finally overpowering Kaushani 16-14 in the decider to take the gold by a 4-3 margin, a media release said.
Prapti Sen from West Bengal and Shrushti Helengadi were awarded the bronze.
Gujarat’s Manush Shah faced stiff competition from Anirban Ghosh of West Bengal in the U-21 boys singles final.
The battle between left-handed Shah and right-handed Ghosh reached its zenith in the third game where Anirban had the last laugh winning 12-10.
Here too the match went down to the decider after six games, but Anirban was left stranded in the final set and lost 4-11.
Ronit Bhanja and Parth Virmani took the bronze, the release said.
West Bengal and Maharashtra emerged overall winners for the U-21 and U-17 categories in Table Tennis.
Gujarat and Maharashtra finished second and third in the U-21 category, while Madhya Pradesh were second and Delhi and Bengal shared third place in the U 17 category in the overall race.
Around 30 kg of ganja was seized in the district on Sunday and three people hailing from Tamil Nadu arrested in this connection, police said.
Acting on a tip-off, police intercepted the accused at Chavatidibbala village while they were transporting ganja weighing 30 kgs in gunny bags, from Visakhapatnam to Tamil Nadu via this district and arrested them.
Firing a fresh salvo at the BJP leadership and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, disgruntled party leader Shatrughan Sinha on Sunday said the rally at Kolkata where he shared the stage with a host of opposition leaders was aimed at “saving Indian democracy from being ruined”.
The actor-turned-politician and Patna Sahib MP, who had rankled the party by his presence at the rally and speaking about “tanashahi” (dictatorship) prevailing under the leadership of Modi and Amit Shah as against “lokshahi” (democracy) that characterized the Atal-Advani era, sought to twist the knife with a couple of tweets.
“What an amazing gathering and what a mammoth audience that came together in Bengal in lakhsto listen to and support this spontaneous show of solidarity in favour of a change parivartan!” exclaimed Sinha in his first tweet about the public meet which was organized by West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee.
Leaders of 22 opposition parties came together at a mega rally on Saturday and declared they will put up a united fight to oust the Narendra Modi government which has “passed its expiry date”.
“Kudos to our sister, the great lady of Bengal, the fiery Mamata di, who needs to be roundly complimented for bringing together one of the largest congregations of the strongest and most influential political minds and leaders from all corners of the country on the same stage under a common cause of saving the Indian democracy from being ruined,” Sinha said in the second tweet.
Top leaders of anti-NDA parties in addition to former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie attacked the Modi government on issues like demonetization, faulty implementation of GST and the controversy surrounding the Rafale deal at the rally.
In the wake of the death of two BJP leaders in Madhya Pradesh recently, former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan warned the Congress government in the state that if such incidents are not curbed, the BJP will “come out on the streets.” “Government is taking this lightly. There seems to be a larger conspiracy behind this (BJP leader killed in Mandsaur). I demand a CBI inquiry. BJP leader was killed in Barwani, I warn the government that they stop such incidents otherwise BJP will come out on streets,” Singh told ANI.
Continuing his tirade against the Kamal Nath government, Chouhan said law and order has collapsed in the state and criminals are now “fearless.” “Congress used to talk of change but what change is this? Murders have started here, there was one in Indore, then in Mandsaur where a BJP leader was killed, another BJP leader killed in Barwani. Criminals are fearless today. Law and order completely collapsed,” said Shivraj.
Manoj Thackeray, a BJP MLA from Barwani, was found dead in a field earlier on Sunday, less than a week after Mandsaur Municipal Corporation chairman Prahlad Bandhwar was shot dead.
Balwadi ASP said a blood-stained rock was found at the site where Thackeray’s body was found. “He (Manoj) had gone for his routine morning walk. A blood-stained rock has been found from the crime site. Speculation is that he was killed with that rock,” he told media here.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya met the family of Bandhwar who was shot dead on January 17 in Mandsaur.
Bandhwar’s family, too, demanded a CBI investigation into the death of the BJP leader. A BJP leader, Manish Bairagi, has been arrested in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh in connection with Prahlad’s demise.
