A missing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was found hanging from a tree in Hiranagar Town in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua on Tuesday.
However, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to investigate the exact cause of the death.
As per police sources, a villager saw the body of BJP leader Som Raj hanging from a tree at some distance from his house in Hiranagar town in the morning and informed the police.
The body, which had blood marks, was sent to a Sub District Hospital (SDH) Hiranagar hospital for post-mortem.
Sources said Raj was missing since yesterday and was found hanging from a tree on Tuesday under mysterious circumstances.
Inquest proceedings under section 174 CrPC have been initiated by Hiranagar Police in this regard.
The family members and many BJP leaders demanded a probe into his death.
After completing medical and legal formalities, the body of the deceased was handed over to legal heirs for last rites.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kathua RC Kotwal said that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by SDPO Border has been constituted to investigate the matter.
“Questioning of the leaders on whom the family has levelled allegation will also be conducted and whosoever will be found guilty will be dealt with iron hands”, SSP asserted.
With around a week left for Ganeshotsav, the civic body has received 2,540 applications from mandals across Mumbai and has granted permission to 65% or 1,660 of them.
This number is already more than the total 2,507 applications received last year, of which 2,048 were granted permission.
The third First Year Junior College (FYJC) general merit list announced on Monday saw cut-offs rising by 3-6% across streams over the first and second rounds in this admission season.
Last year, cut-offs in the third round went up by 1-2%.
Principals said cut-offs tend to rise in the third round due to various reasons, the prime being students with high scores playing the waiting game to get colleges of their choice. New applications after every round contribute to this trend.
Parts of eight out of the 48 structures in the vicinity of the Mumbai airport will be demolished in a month for violating the height norms, Mumbai suburban district collector has told the Bombay high court.
A division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik had last month directed the collector to specify the measures to be taken for razing parts of the 48 structures identified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) as violative of height regulations.
While periodical surveys are carried out to identify such structures, the MIAL in 2017 informed the suburban collector’s office that 48 such structures need to be demolished.
BEST management announced that it will have a separate queue for passengers with a Chalo app and smartcard for boarding its digital buses with tap in and tap out facilities.
Other passengers can also board these buses by purchasing tickets from ground staff as there are no conductors in these buses.
The machines installed in digital buses can scan smartcards or QR code from the Chalo mobile app.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Tuesday wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asking him to sign the proposals that are forwarded from the latter’s office for approval or opinion.
The LG in his letter mentioned that Kejriwal’s office has been sending proposals signed by officials with comments that they have been “seen and approved” by the Chief Minister.
“Proposals have been submitted by your office for my approval/opinion with remarks CM has seen & approved the proposal, without specifying grounds of urgency warranting such a communication.It may be ensured that proposals should be duly signed by you,” the LG said.
“In view of the above, the current practice of submission of files on a routine basis under the signatures of your officials needs to be discouraged /avoided as in the absence of your signature, it is not clear whether the proposal has been seen and approved by you or not,” the letter read.
Saxena further said that for efficient and effective governance, it may be ensured that any proposals sent by the CMO office should be duly signed by Kejriwal.
“In the interest of smooth and effective governance, it may be ensured that proposals, which are submitted by your office for my opinion or approval, as the case may be, should be duly signed by your good self. I would also like to suggest that your office may consider introducing the e-office system at the earliest so as to enable seamless movement of files,” he said.
Two FIRs have been registered on Tuesday after a scuffle broke out between a group of students and security guards at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Monday.
According to Delhi Police, one complaint has been filed by a JNU student under Sections 323/341/34 of IPC and another has been filed by the chief security officer of JNU under 186/323/342/506/34 of IPC.
“Two FIRs have been registered, one on the complainant of a JNU student u/s 323/341/34 of IPC and another complaint of the chief security officer of JNU u/s 186/323/342/506/34 of IPC has been registered at PS VK North. Both cases are pending investigation,” said DCP Southwest.
Following the scuffle, the varsity said it is looking into the incident and will take strict action against those found guilty. However, the unit of the ABVP, the student wing of the BJP in JNU, claimed that students were beaten at the behest of the institution’s authorities. The students were protesting for their rights, the ABVP said.
“Today, at 10.30 a.m. around 15 students barged into the Students’ and Project Section of the University confining the staff to their seats only. They stopped the exit and entry of anybody in the Section as a result of which the office work and students’ dealing came to a standstill,” informed JNU.”
As soon the matter was brought to the notice of the University Authorities, three senior officers of the University were rushed to the section to know the contention of these students so as to resolve the matter.
These students were repeatedly requested to come for dialogue and not to confine the staff as there were female staff members also present in the section.
“But they totally refused to have any dialogue. They were threatening the Vice Chancellor and Rector and kept intimidating the officers,” the JNU administration further claimed. Divulging more details into the scuffle, the varsity said, “As the situation was getting serious, the University authority was left with no other option but to ask the unarmed security staff, not the police, to get the staff released in order to avoid any serious medical complication and further escalation of conflict between students and the staff. The moment these unarmed security guards tried to enter the section, the students started attacking them with chairs and smashing the glass panes of the section. There was utter chaos in the Section.”
According to JNU, some security staff members were badly hurt and started bleeding profusely following the clash.
“University Administration is looking into this incident and assures the JNU Community that strict action will be taken against those found guilty as per University rules. The University Administration also appeals to refrain from indulging in such disruptive activities,” JNU stated.
“University authorities have taken serious cognizance of the incident of disrupting the office work, stopping University employees from discharging their duties, damaging property and attacking the unarmed security guards who were rescuing the staff from the section,” the JNU statement further read.
As per information, the students were demanding the distribution of scholarships which were “pending” for two years.
“Students staged a protest at the administration office when the guards of JNU security came and tried to remove them. A scuffle broke out between students and guards on duty,” said a police official. However, the police said they had not received any complaints about the incident.
“So far no complaint has been received in this regard. Necessary legal action will be taken when received,” added the police official.
As per some claims, some students were injured during the clash. “At the behest of the VC Rector, JNU guards beat up the students and dragged them. Several students got hurt,” tweeted BJP youth wing ABVP’s JNU unit.
The JNU ABVP tweeted a video of the incident and wrote, “After exposing the corruption of the JNU, when the ABVP JNU activists were agitating for the stalled scholarship of JNU students for years, the goons of the Rector posted as the security guard of JNU attacked the students. #JNURector_gunda_hai #JNURector_must_resign.”
“NAXALI JNU Admin attacked students for asking for their rightful fellowships. The security didn’t spare even the girls and the divyang students. Many students have been seriously injured and the fellowship section is red with the student’s blood #ShameOnJNUAdmin@JNU_official_50,” wrote ABVP JNU.
In another tweet, the ABVP JNU said, “The students who are raising their voice for their rights have paid this price. The JNU Rector and his henchmen are running a prestigious university as their own property.”
The Special Narcotics Cell of the Mizoram Police seized 2.7 kilograms of heroin in the Kolasib district on Monday night and arrested two persons including a Myanmar national, police said on Tuesday. The drugs are estimated to be Rs 13.4 crores worth in the international market.
According to a Mizoram Police statement, CID was able to recover 200 cases of Heroin No. 4.
The drug weighing 2.7 kilograms, is valued at approximately Rs 13.4 crore in the international market.
The recovery was made from a truck at the Kanan Veng Kawnpui, in the northern district of Kolasib.
The police have apprehended two people so far. The first accused has been identified as Khualsawmsangam who is 37 years old, a resident of Ngaizawl in the Champhai district.
The other accused is a Myanmar national, Lalthangliana, who is 44 years old from Bukphir, Chin State in Myanmar. He was living in Vengthar, Champhai. A senior police official said the case will be handled by the Aizawl Special Narcotics Police Station.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday supported suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma over her remarks against Prophet Mohammad.
Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik had said the same thing earlier but no one asked him to apologise, Thackeray said while addressing a meeting of MNS functionaries here.
“Nobody asked Naik for an apology,” the MNS chief said. Thackeray also slammed the “Owaisi brothers” (AIMIM leaders) for allegedly ridiculing the names of Hindu gods.
No action has been taken against them, he said, using an abusive term while referring to them.
The MNS chief also taunted his estranged cousin and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the latter’s claim that the BJP reneged on the promise of rotating the CM’s post after the 2019 Assembly elections in Maharashtra.
“When I was in Shiv Sena, Balasaheb (Thackeray) had decided that the party having more MLAs will have the CM post,” he said. “Also, during the election campaign, PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah had publicly said that Devendra Fadnavis (present Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra) will be the CM.
Why did you not object then instead of waiting for the poll results and going against the people’s mandate which was for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance,” he said.
Raj Thackeray said the late Shiv Sena founder had hugged him when he was about to leave that party. “I had gone to meet Balasaheb. He knew I was not staying (in the Sena). He hugged me and said: Now you can go,” the MNS chief recalled. “I want to take Balasaheb’s ideology forward. It doesn’t matter if I don’t have the symbol (bow and arrow symbol of Shiv Sena),” he said.
The Maharashtra transport commissioner’s Office will conduct a road safety programme on Wednesday for drivers working for legislators in the state, an official said on Tuesday.
As per an official release, the road safety cell of the state transport commissioner’s office will hold a three-hour training programme.
Last week, Shiv Sangram Party leader and former member of the legislative council Vinayak Mete died in a car crash on Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
State transport commissioner Avinash Dhakane said the programme is voluntary and drivers will be trained to drive safely on different types of roads and taught to take care of vehicles in different seasons.
They will be educated about precautions that should be taken while overtaking other vehicles or driving at night and they will also be taught to inspect vehicles before the journey, the official said.
Acting on the Supreme Court’s directive, the state government had set up a special cell in December 2018 to handle the statewide road safety-related activities and created 16 new posts, including a joint transport commissioner (road safety) for it.
