Three LeT terrorists were killed in an encounter in the Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, police said.
Bodies were being retrieved from the site and their identity yet to be ascertained, police said.
“All the three hiding LeT terrorists neutralised. Bodies being retrieved from the site, identification yet to be ascertained. Incriminating materials, arms & ammunition recovered. A big success for us,” said a tweet by Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Kashmir.
Earlier, the Kashmir zone police had said that the encounter had begun at the Waterhail area of Budgam. When the encounter began, the police said they believed that the trapped gunemen were terrorists belonging to the proscribed terror outfit The Resistance Front (TRF)/Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
The Jammu and Kashmir Police also claimed that terrorist Lateef Rather, who was involved in several civilian killings, including Rahul Bhat and Amreen Bhat was also trapped.
“3 terrorists of terror outfit LeT (TRF) including terrorist Lateef Rather trapped in the ongoing encounter. Terrorist Lateef is involved in several #civilian #killings including Rahul Bhat and Amreen Bhat,” (sic) Kashmir Zone Police said in a tweet quoting Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Kashmir.
Earlier on Sunday, a ‘hybrid’ terrorist of the proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was arrested by the Indian Army’s 34 RR unit in the Budgam area.
The accused arrested has been identified as Arshid Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Sangam Budgam. The arrests were made by a joint team of Srinagar Police and 2RR at Lawaypura.
The officials also seized incriminating materials which include 5 pistols, 5 magazines, and 50 rounds. Two hand grenades were also recovered from the terrorist.
One terrorist was killed in the ongoing encounter in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday.
“The encounter broke out in Budgam in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday between terrorists and security forces,” said police.
“Encounter has started at Waterhail area of Budgam. Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow,” Kashmir Zone Police said in a tweet.
Earlier today, the security forces trapped terrorists of proscribed terror outfit The Resistance Front (TRF)/Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the ongoing encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police said that terrorist Lateef Rather, who was involved in several civilian killings including Rahul Bhat and Amreen Bhat is also trapped.
“3 terrorists of terror outfit LeT (TRF) including terrorist Lateef Rather trapped in the ongoing encounter. Terrorist Lateef is involved in several #civilian #killings including Rahul Bhat and Amreen Bhat,” Kashmir Zone Police said in a tweet quoting Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Kashmir.
Chadoora Tehsil Office employee Rahul Bhat was shot dead by terrorists on May 12 in his office while Kashmiri TV actress Amreen Bhat was killed by unidentified terrorists in Budgam’s Chadoora area on May 26.
After the Bihar Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister were sworn-in amid the political turbulence, new Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday, assured that the new government will address unemployment and poverty on priority.
Speaking to media persons Yadav stressed that the Chief Minister felt the pain of the poor. “Bihar did what the country needs to do. We have shown them a way. Our fight has been against unemployment. Our CM felt the pain of the poor and the youth. We will give bumper jobs within one month to poor and youth, it’ll be something so grand that it has never happened before,” Tejashwi Yadav told to the agencies.
He also highlighted his confidence in the Mahagathbandhan and said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would be cornered as the opposition in Vidhan Sabha.
“Mahagathbandhan is so strong that BJP would be only one left for opposition in Vidhan Sabha… The difficult decision taken by CM Nitish Kumar is a decision which was needed. Communal tensions were being spread by BJP, they were trying to kill regional parties,” he added.
Earlier, Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the eighth time at the Patna Raj Bhavan. This came a day after major political turmoil in the state, after which Nitish broke the alliance of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and announced to form a new “Grand Alliance” which includes Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other Opposition parties.
The oath ceremony was attended by Tejashwi and his wife Rajshri, former CM Rabri Devi and RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav at the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Patna.
Tejashwi Yadav also took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state. Nitish said there are seven parties including 164 MLAs along with an independent MLA in the Mahagathbandhan, at a joint presser with RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav after meeting Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan on Tuesday.
The District Court will hold a hearing on the bail plea of Ashish Mishra in the Lakhimpur Khiri violence case today.
Ashish Mishra who is the main accused in the case can be brought to court and five other accused will also be produced.
Mishra is facing a case of murder for the incident that took place on October 3, 2021, in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri.
Mishra allegedly ran over the farmers who were protesting against the Centre’s three farm Laws. He was arrested on October 9 and granted bail in February 2022.
Mishra, again moved to the High Court as the Court’s earlier order was set aside by the Supreme Court in April 2022 and had ordered fresh consideration of his bail plea.
A bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana with Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli said, “The High Court shall decide the bail application afresh expeditiously, and preferably within a period of three months.”
The top court set aside the Allahabad High Court order dated February 10, 2022, and remit the matter back to the High Court.
The top court said that the order of the Allahabad High Court cannot be sustained and has to be set aside and the bail bonds of the respondent/accused are cancelled.
The Court directed Ashish Mishra to surrender within a week. Family members of the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident moved the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High Court order, which granted bail to Ashish Mishra.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had appointed a committee headed by retired Punjab and Haryana high court judge Rakesh Kumar Jain to monitor the probe into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Moments after Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Bihar Chief Minister on Wednesday after parting ways with the BJP and joining the Grand Alliance to form government in the state, he called for a united Opposition ahead of the General elections scheduled to be held in 2024.
Kumar parted ways with the BJP alleging that the party was trying to break the JD(U), and joined hands with the political opponents RJD in the Mahagathbandhan on Tuesday.
Speculations have been rife regarding his future with his ‘national ambitions’ doing rounds in the political sphere since his move against the NDA, which whom he had reunited in 2017.
However, the Chief Minister rejected any such speculations after being sworn in today.
“Those who came to power in 2014, will they be victorious in 2024? I would like all (opposition) to be united for 2024. I am not a contender for any such post (on PM post),” he said while speaking to the reporters here.
Soon after the swearing-in ceremony, Kumar said that the party made the decision together to leave the BJP.
“The party made the decision together (to leave BJP). I did not want to be the Chief Minister after the previous election. But a lot of pressure was put on me to handle the post. When there were talks with them (points towards Tejashwi Yadav), the decision was made. whether I will stay or not (till 2024)…they can say what they want, but I will not live in the year 2014,” the Chief Minister said.
Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief Minister while RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav became his Deputy in the Bihar government.
Earlier today, Union Minister Nityanand Rai, while addressing the speculations about Nitish Kumar’s national ambitions after quitting the NDA, said that the JD(U) leader will “never be the Prime Minister” of the country, adding that post of the head of the government is “reserved” for PM Narendra Modi.
“The people of not only Bihar but the entire country have made up their minds and blessed Narendra Modi to be the prime minister for lifetime. The people of this country will not accept anybody else as their PM if there is Narendra Modi. He will never be the Prime Minister. The post of PM is reserved for PM Modi because the poor got its massiha for the first time,’ Rai said.
Tarkishore Prasad, who was Nitish’s Deputy in the NDA government from which Kumar walked out yesterday, said that the people of Bihar will give a “befitting reply” if a leader acts as per his “own personal ambitions”.
“In 2017 Nitish Kumar said RJD trying to break JD(U). Yesterday, he said BJP trying to break his party. His decision to split from BJP was well-thought-out. If a leader acts as per his own personal ambitions, Bihar will give a befitting reply,” Prasad said.
BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said that Kumar joined hands with the ones who “insulted” him and left the ones who “gave him respect”.
Faridkot Court on Wednesday sent gangster Lawrence Bishnoi to a two-days Police remand in connection with Rs 50 Lakhs extortion from a cloth merchant in Punjab’s Kotkapura.
The Faridkot Police had brought him from Moga and sought his remand in connection with the matter.
He was earlier sent to the ten-day police remand of Moga Police in an attempt to a murder case on August 1. Bishnoi is accused of the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Moga, Gulneet Singh Khurana, had said that Bishnoi was brought for questioning in an attempt to murder case filed in December 2021 in which the police had arrested a sharpshooter from Bishnoi’s gang Monu Dagar.
The Moga police claimed that on directions of Bishnoi, Canada-based Goldy Brar sent two shooters Jodhajit Singh and Monu Dagar to kill Jatinder Kumar Neela
On December 1, 2021, Dagar and Jodha from Amritsar arrived on a bike, armed with two Zigana eagle pistols and opened fire at Sunil Dhamija and his son Pratham Dhamija after mistaking Sunil for his brother Jatinder Neela.
An FIR was lodged under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC, sections 54, 59, 25 (arms manufacture, sale, repair, etc) of the Arms Act and section 22 (contravention in relation to psychotropic substances) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at the Moga city police station.
Dagar, who belongs to Sonipat in Haryana, was a wanted criminal and also an accused in Moose Wala’s murder case.
Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the eighth time at the Patna Raj Bhavan on Wednesday.
This came a day after a huge political turmoil in the state, after which he broke the alliance of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and announced to form a new “Grand Alliance” which includes Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other Opposition parties.
The oath ceremony was attended by RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav and his wife Rajshri, former CM Rabri Devi and RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav at the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Patna.
Meanwhile, Tejashwi Yadav also took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state.
Seven parties including 164 MLAs along with independent MLA in our Mahagathbandhan, said Nitish Kumar at a joint presser with RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav after meeting Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan on Tuesday.
Photo- ANI, the Indian women’s team scripted history at the 44th Chess Olympiad.
Indian women’s team scripted history at the 44th Chess Olympiad by winning the country’s first-ever medal in the women’s section while men claimed their second bronze medal in the prestigious event in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.
India A team, comprising Koneru Humpy, R Vaishali, Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni, secured a bronze medal in the women’s section after a 1-3 loss to the USA in the final round match.
Humpy and Vaishali drew their games while Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni ended up losing their games. Abhijit Kunte, the India A coach, was all praise for the team saying: “The team has worked really hard in the last three or four months and this is India’s first-ever medal in the history of the Olympics, this should be the beginning of much better days for women’s chess in India.”
The first women’s Olympiad was held in 1957. Since 1976, women and open sections have been held together. In the open section, on the other hand, the young India B team, which impressed everyone with their brilliant performances throughout the event, handed the country its second bronze medal after thrashing Germany 3-1.
India B had D Gukesh leading from the top and the start, scoring a fantastic 9/11, Nihal Sarin chipped in with a superb 7.5/10, Praggnanandhaa scored well with 6.5/9 and Raunak Sadhwani also scored a valuable 5.5/8.
“Overall, it has been a very enjoyable event. I did not expect us to perform so well but it could have been better. We could have had a great chance at a gold medal if I had won or drawn my game yesterday (on Monday).
But these things happen. Immediately after the game I was devastated and our mentor [Viswanathan] Anand put me in a better frame of mind by saying that these things happen in sport and he too was at the receiving end himself,” said Gukesh, who played all 11 games and tallied 9 points.
It was India’s second bronze medal in the open section at the Olympiad after winning it before in 2014. Besides medals in the team events, it rained medals for India on individual performances with as many as seven Indians winning medals, including two gold, one silver and four bronze.
Gukesh and Sarin were on the top and second board respectively while Arjun Erigaisi secured a silver medal on the third board. R Praggnanandhaa (third board), R Vaishali (third board), Tania Sachdev (third board) and Divya Deshmukh (reserve board) claimed individual bronze medals. India also won the prestigious Gaprindashvili Cup.
It is given to the nation for its collective performance in both open and women’s sections. It was also for the first time India hosted the world’s biggest chess tournament.
Uzbekistan and Ukraine emerged as the champions in the open and women’s sections respectively at the 44th Chess Olympiad. The young Uzbekistan side, seeded 14th tied for top place with 12th seeded Armenia but won the gold medal on a better tie-break while Armenia had to settle for silver after both teams scored 19 points each.
India B finished with a tally of 18 points. The event produced the most unexpected results where fancied Teams ranked in the Top-10 failed to get any medal.
India A team also performed well but was rather unlucky to finish fourth, missing the medal by a whisker. India A held the USA to a nail-biting 2-2 draw. Erigaisi brought in the victory while Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi were held to draws.
SL Narayanan lost his game. In the women’s section, Ukraine clinched a gold medal and Georgia silver after a tie-break was applied as both scored 18 points each. India A, USA and Kazakhstan tied for third place but were pipped by India A for the bronze.
India B, seeded 11th, also performed creditably to be placed 8th with 16 points while India C finished 17th with 15 points. The Uzbekistan team expressed happiness with their country getting a gold medal as at the FIDE Congress the hosting of the 2026 Olympiad was awarded to Uzbekistan.
Union Minister Nityanand Rai on Wednesday, while addressing the speculations about Nitish Kumar’s national ambitions after quitting the NDA, said that the JD(U) leader will “never be the Prime Minister” of the country, adding that post of the head of the government is “reserved” for PM Narendra Modi.
The remarks of the Union Minister came after speculations made rounds about Kumar seeing himself in a central role in the upcoming 2024 General elections.
Speaking to the reporters, Rai said, “Going with RJD and Tejashwi Yadav is a betrayal to the people & mandate of Bihar, to the ideologies of Lohia-JP-George. Going with Congress-RJD proves that Nitish Kumar does everything just to be in power.”
“The youth who had laid down their lives in the 1974 agitation (Bihar movement) from the entire country including Bihar, Nitish Kumar has betrayed their blood by tying up with Congress and RJD. His move has proved that he does everything only for power. What does it mean to compromise with 15-year-long terror and anarchy?” he said.
Stating that the people of the country have made up their minds and blessed Narendra Modi “to be the prime minister for lifetime”, Rai said that they (people) will not accept anybody else on the post.
“The people of not only Bihar but the entire country have made up their minds and blessed Narendra Modi to be the prime minister for lifetime. The people of this country will not accept anybody else as their PM if there is Narendra Modi. He will never be the Prime Minister. The post of PM is reserved for PM Modi because the poor got its massiha for the first time,’ Rai added.
Tarkishore Prasad, who was Nitish’s Deputy in the NDA government from which Kumar walked out yesterday, said that the people of Bihar will give a “befitting reply” if a leader acts as per his “own personal ambitions”.
“In 2017 Nitish Kumar said RJD trying to break JD(U). Yesterday, he said BJP trying to break his party. His decision to split from BJP was well-thought-out. If a leader acts as per his own personal ambitions, Bihar will give a befitting reply,” Prasad said.
BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said that Kumar joined hands with the ones who “insulted” him and left the ones who “gave him respect”.
“He is going with the ones who insulted him and abused him, and leaving the ones who gave him respect. We worked with honesty and announced that we would contest the elections together. The rise of Nitish Kumar had happened against the RJD. It was his USP that he came forward against corruption,” he said.
“We will play the role of a strong Opposition. We will put in efforts from now to win all 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in the 2024 elections,” Hussain added.
Kumar ended his alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) National Democratic Alliance and rejoined hands with RJD on a day of rapidly changing political developments in Bihar.
According to a tweet by Kumar’s new alliance partner RJD, the swearing-in ceremony will be held at 2 pm at Raj Bhavan.
“The swearing-in ceremony of Honorable Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister will be held tomorrow at 2 pm at Raj Bhavan,” the party said in a tweet from its official handle.
While the RJD tweet did not mention any names, it is widely expected that Nitish Kumar would be the chief minister while Tejashwi Yadav would become his deputy.
In a day of fast-paced political developments, Bihar’s chief minister Nitish Kumar twice met Governor Phagu Chauhan, first to hand over his resignation as NDA chief minister and then after being elected leader of the RJD-led `Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) to stake a claim for the top job in the state once again.
Kumar said he submitted a list of 164 MLAs to the governor who will decide when the oath-taking can take place. The effective strength of the state Assembly is 242 and the magic figure is 122.
Notably, it will be the eighth time when Nitish Kumar will be sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar.
Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted Anticipatory bail to BJP leader Kirit Somaiya and his Son Neil Somaiya in the alleged misproportion of funds case related to INS Vikrant.
Mumbai Police informed the Court that it could not get any proof against Somaiya in the case yet.
A case was registered against Kirit Somaiya and his son Neil Somaiya under Sections 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the Trombay Police station in Mumbai for INS Vikrant financial bungling.
Commissioned in 1961, INS Vikrant, a Majestic-class aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy, had played a key role in enforcing the naval blockade of East Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971. It was decommissioned in 1997.
In January 2014, the ship was sold through an online auction and scrapped in November that year.
