Day: September 12, 2019

Robbers loot a jewellery store in Hyderabad, gets caught in Patna

Source: indiatoday.in

Police have arrested five members of a gang that looted a jewellery store in Hyderabad’s AS Rao Nagar on September 4. The accused were arrested within 24 hours of the robbery from Patna.

Efforts are on to nab another absconding accused.

The six accused are natives of Bihar and worked as menial workers in Hyderabad.

The accused, identified as Md Shabaz Alam, Md Shahid, Md Mansoor Alam, Md Kasim, Aftab Alam and Mehandi Azeem robbed a jewellery store of AS Rao Nagar of the city and ran away with the looted items.

The looted items and valuables included 100 gm gold ornaments. The security guard of the shop alerted the police.

Police identified the accused through CCTV and found that all the accused have left to their native place from Secunderabad Railway station.

Immediately a special team was formed by Commissioner Rachakonda Mahesh Bhagwat and the team took a plane to arrive at Patna.

The police was waiting for them at Danapur Railway station.

The gang was also involved in a similar burglary in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa.

Jamaat man wanted in Bodh Gaya blast held

Source: telegraphindia.com

Calcutta police’s special task force arrested a suspected Bengal-based Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh leader from Chennai on Tuesday.

Asadullah Sheikh, alias Raja, 35, is wanted in the Bodh Gaya blast that was carried out last year during the Dalai Lama’s visit there, an officer of the special task force said.

Asadullah, originally from the Bhatar area in East Burdwan, was living in a rented house at Nilangarai in Chennai. “He was involved in the Bodh Gaya blast in 2018 and had been on the run since then. We arrested him based on a specific tip-off about his current address,” the officer said.

A court in Alamdur, Chennai, on Tuesday gave cops his transit remand for three days.

During questioning, Asadullah apparently told the sleuths that his superiors in JMB asked him to contact other operatives of the outfit in Chennai and spread their area of influence.

Last week, a special task force team had arrested another alleged JMB member, Mohammed Abul Kashem, alias Kashem, 22, from Canal East Road in north Calcutta.

Kashem was remanded in police custody till September 16.

Shortly before his arrest, the special task force had picked up a suspected top JMB operative, Ejaz Ahmad, from Bihar’s Gaya.

An officer in Lalbazar said the special task force had “successfully nabbed the entire gang of JMB operatives” from Bengal who were behind the Bodh Gaya blast.

“There are a few more who were part of the JMB team that carried out the blast. Some of them are already on our radar,” a special task force officer said.

MODERATE MONSOON RAINS BACK IN BIHAR, GAYA, BHAGALPUR AND ROHTAS TO SEE GOOD RAINS DURING NEXT 24 TO 48 HRS

Source: skymetweather.com

Earlier the Low-Pressure Area was over Northeast Madhya Pradesh and now it has shifted its base to North Madhya Pradesh and adjoining South Uttar Pradesh. Moreover, the Axis of Monsoon Trough is expected to shift North and will extend from Haryana up to Northeast India and cross via Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, rains will now be seen over the state of Bihar.

In the past 24 hours, Gaya, Patna, and Purnea have recorded light to very light rains. In wake of the above-mentioned weather systems, the rainfall activities will now gradually increase over Bihar. The rains will be a sight over Rohtas, Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada, Jamui, Banka, Nalanda, Munger and Bhagalpur for the next 24 to 48 hours.

While rest places of Bihar are likely to witness isolated light rains during the same period.

Here the experts have to say that post 48 hours, the activities will slow down and only isolated activities will continue. Also, another spell of rain and thundershowers is expected between September 16 to 19. During this time, scattered light to moderate rains with isolated heavy spells is possible during this time.

These intermittent rain and thundershowers will continue over Bihar during the next seven to eight days and looks like the rain deficiency will not get covered up. At present, the state of Bihar is rain deficit by 23%.

Hopefully, these rains will bring back comfortable weather conditions and there will be relief from hot and humid weather conditions too.

Lynching case: Jharkhand police defends decision to drop murder charges against accused

Source: nationalheraldindia.com

The Jharkhand Police on Wednesday strongly defended its decision to scale down charges — from murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder — against the 11 accused in the lynching case of Tabrez Ansari, saying it was based on investigation and medical report.

Ansari, 24, was seen on national television being beaten up with rods while tied to a pole and forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ over an alleged theft.

The Seraikela-Kharsawan district police had charge- sheeted 11 of the 13 named accused in the case on July 29, dropping the stringent charge of murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. All 11 of them will now face the law for lesser offence under section 304 of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

“We have taken the decision to convert section 302 under the IPC to 304 of the code after consulting the authorities. The decision was taken based on proper probe and post-mortem and forensic reports, which said that Ansari died of cardiac arrest,” Superintendent of Police Karthik S said.

Questioning the hue and cry over the police decision to drop murder charges, the SP said, “Why are people undermining section 304 of the IPC? The undermining of the section tantamount to undermining of the Indian Penal Code.” AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday reacted sharply to the dilution of the charge and said there was a “chance that the prosecution will do its best to do a shoddy job”.

Twitterati has also raised questions over the move to water down charges against the 11 accused.

Asked whether the police received the Central Forensic Laboratory report from Chandigarh, the senior police officer replied in the affirmative but refused to give any details.

He also asserted that the video of the mob attack on Ansari was “not tampered with, but it did not synchronize with the audio”.

Talking about the petition filed by Ansari’s widow Shahista Perveen in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Manju Kumari, he said, “As the case was filed under section 295(A) of the IPC (maliciously insulting the religion or religious beliefs of any class), the district administration has forwarded it to the state government to take a decision.” Altaf Hussain, Perveen’s lawyer, also said that the petition would be admitted only after the state administration’s approval.

“We have filed the petition against the dropping of section 302 IPC against the accused and converting it to 304 of the IPC. It will be admitted only after the state administration’s approval.”

Ansari worked as a labourer and welder in Pune and had come home to celebrate Eid when he was captured by locals at Dhatkidih village on the night of June 17 over suspicion of trying to steal a motorcycle.

He was tied to a pole and assaulted by a mob with sticks and iron rods. A video of the scene that went viral and was flashed across TV networks showed he was forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’ by his tormentors.

As Ansari’s condition deteriorated, he was shifted to the district government hospital the same day. With no signs of improvement, he was then referred to the Tata Main Hospital, where he was declared brought dead on June 22.

Altogether 13 people were named accused in the case.

While police has charge-sheeted 11 of the 13 accused, the probe is still under way against two.

Though there was no evidence of the perpetrators’ link to any Hindu right organisation, Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists had protested their arrest.

Fines are harsh: Jharkhand hints at revising hefty traffic penalties ahead of elections

Source: indiatoday.in

The Jharkhand government has dropped an indication to revise the fine provision in the new Motor Vehicles Act.

State Transport Minister CP Singh said that the traffic fines imposed were exorbitant. He said that the government was for the people and they felt that the fines were harsh.

The transport minister said that the government was serious about giving relief to the commuters who are facing the brunt of new act.

CP Singh assured the people to wait for two days after which PM Modi will be there and then a special session would be convened regarding the matter.

“I have felt the difficulties of people. The act was implemented abruptly and all of a sudden,” CP Singh said.

The govt has decided to relax the norms and fine provision in the new Motor Vehicles Act.

He said that the fines slapped under the head of registration, pollution and other offences would be reviewed. He also said that he had already talked to the chief minister about it.

When asked why all the states who were heading towards elections were in a haste to revise the traffic fines, CP Singh said, “We are concerned about people’s interest.”

It comes after Gujarat slashed the hefty fines by nearly 50 per cent after the implementation of the Motor Vehicles Act. Karnataka is likely to follow Gujarat in reducing traffic fines.

Speculations are rife that the government is scared that such hefty fine could cost them during the elections which are round the corner. Jharkhand is scheduled to go for elections towards the end of the year.

Earlier, CP Singh was fined for violating the traffic movement tracking system he had introduced once. The minister was on his way on June 23 when his car was caught jumping a signal at the Sarjana Chowk in Ranchi by the red light violation detection system (RLVD). The minister had to shell out Rs 100 as penalty.

Modi in Ranchi today, to launch slew of welfare schemes, development projects

Source: hindustantimes.com

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a slew of welfare and development projects from Ranchi’s Prabhat Tara ground on Thursday, weeks ahead of the assembly polls scheduled this year-end.

Modi will dedicate country’s second Multi Model Terminal built at Sahibganj to the nation, inaugurate newly constructed state-of-the-art Assembly Building in Ranchi and lay the foundation of new secretariat building in Jharkhand capital.

He will also launch the Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana, Khudra Vyapari Dukandar Swarojgar Pension scheme and Ekalvya Model Residential School scheme.

“The PM will also launch several national projects from Jharkhand, which will help the country as well as state’s development and welfare schemes,” said CM Raghubar Das.

A pension scheme for small and marginal farmers will secure lives of estimate five crore farmers across the country including 10 lakh in Jharkhand by providing a minimum pension of Rs 3,000 per month to those who attain 60 years of age. The scheme has an outlay of Rs 10,774 crores for the next three years.

In Jharkhand, more than 1.16 lakh farmers have registered themselves under the scheme so far. Only small and marginal farmer, who own cultivable land up to two hectares, would be eligible for the scheme. Besides, the farmers, who are between the age group of 18 years and 40 years, would qualify for the scheme.

India’s second riverine Multi Model Terminal built at Sahibganj will be inaugurated by the PM through a two-way digital communication system from Ranchi.

The minister of state for shipping (independent charge) Mansukh Mandaviya will be present at Sahibganj.

Constructed at Rs 290 crore, the MMT is expected to open up industries of Jharkhand and Bihar to global market and provide Indo-Nepal cargo connectivity through waterways route. Besides coal, stone chips, fertilizers, cement and sugar and other commodities expected to be transported through the terminal.

The Sahibganj Multi Model Terminal is estimated to generate 2,500 jobs.

The PM will launch construction of 462 Ekalvya Model Residential School in tribal dominated blocks across the country by 2022. A total of 69 such schools will be started in Jharkhand. These will be opened in every block with more than 50% tribal population as well as those that have at least minimum 20,000 tribal population.

Jharkhand will get its new assembly building after 19 years of its creation. Built at Rs 465 crore on 39 acres of land, the assembly building has the seating arrangement for 162 members. Separate press gallery, officers’ gallery and visitors’ gallery have also been constructed in the building. Besides, it has 22 rooms for ministers and 17 for assembly committees.

The Prime Minister will lay foundation of Jharkhand secretariat building, which will come up on 40 acres of land next to the new assembly building in the core capital. The state cabinet has recently approved Rs 1238.92 crore for construction of the building.

Free wi-fi zones in Ranchi from November

Source: telegraphindia.com

As many as 10 busy areas of the state capital, including places like Main Road, Morabadi and Doranda, will have free wi-fi zones from November.

The private agency hired by telecom major BSNL is about to complete a survey of the areas after which the City Wi-fi project of the state IT and e-governance department will rollout.

According to sources in the district administration, hotspots would be set up at Sadar Hospital (on Main Road), State Guest house (Morabadi), Collectorate Building A-block and Collectorate Building B-block (near Kutchery Chowk), registry office (Hinoo), Government Bus Stand (Birsa Chowk), RIMS Campus (Bariatu), Birsa Munda Bus Terminus (Kantatoli), Ranchi Municipal Corporation office (Ratu Road), SSP Residence (Ratu Road) and Hatia Guest House (Doranda).

A senior BSNL official said users would have to login in to a specified webpage using his/her name and mobile number, and then enter the OTP he/she would be sent to enjoy free high-speed wi-fi for half an hour.

“After half-an-hour users would have to recharge online from the webpage to continue the service. We will unveil the the webpage before the launch of the project later this year,” said a senior BSNL official.

Recharge amounts would vary between Rs 9 and Rs 69 to provide data between 1 GB per day to 30 GB for 30 days.

State IT director U.P. Sah said that the Ranchi district informatics centre officer was coordinating with the private agency for selecting the strategic points. “As per the agreement with BSNL the project will roll out in Ranchi by November,” he told The Telegraph.

City Wi-fi will also be launched in Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Deoghar, Palamau and Gumla, but later.

“The Ranchi landmarks (for setting up hotspots) have been identified, keeping in view footfall and importance. In the first phase we have selected 10 spots for high-speed internet data service as a part of the City Wi-fi project. The private agency hired by BSNL has almost completed the survey at all locations,” said Ranchi district informatics centre officer Shiv Bannerjee.

BSNL chief general manager (Jharkhand circle) K. K. Thakur said they had integrated the City Wi-fi project with their mobile data offloading (MDO) service.

“The private agency, Go IP Global Services, is currently conducting a survey. We will be launching the City Wi-fi project first in Ranchi by November. Surveys are also on in six other cities where the project will also be launched soon,” said Thakur.

Bihar Police accuses man who died five years ago of breaching peace

source: indiatoday.in

The Bihar Police is in the news once again for its antics. The police of Barh, a town right next to state capital Patna has become a laughing stock.

The Barh police booked a person under Section 107 (breach of peace) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC). The only problem is that the accused died five years ago.

The police issued a preventive notice against the dead youth saying that he is expected to vitiate peace in the region.

The matter relates to communal tensions between two communities over prayers at a temple in the Masood Vigha neighbourhood in Barh.

In order to maintain peace in the region, the police issued a notice under Section 107 against both groups and asked the responsible officers to take action.

The matter is nearly eight months old. The police had issued a notice against Masood Vigha resident Ajay Yadav alias Bhulla and his father Ramkrit Yadav in January 2019.

However, Ajay Yadav died five years ago.

In a hurry, the police recommended the matter to higher officials without the necessary background checks. No police officer is ready to talk about the error made.

Nitish Kumar is captain of NDA in Bihar, says Sushil Modi

Source: thehindu.com

Days after party MLC Sanjay Paswan’s statement that Nitish Kumar should quit his post of Bihar Chief Minister and enter national politics, senior leader of Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday tweeted to say, “Nitish Kumar is the captain of NDA in Bihar and will remain its captain in next assembly elections in 2020 also.”

Earlier, State BJP MLC Sanjay Paswan had urged Nitish Kumar to relinquish his post for the BJP, at least for one term.

“Nitish Kumar is the captain of NDA in Bihar and will remain its captain in next assembly elections in 2020 also…when captain is hitting 4 & 6 defeating rivals by inning where is the question of any change,” tweeted Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi. Mr. Modi is a senior BJP leader in Bihar and considered close to Mr. Kumar.

Mr. Sanjay Paswan had on August 9 created upheaval in the State’s ruling NDA alliance by saying, “Nitish Kumar should now step down from the post of Chief Minister for BJP…we trusted him for 15-long years and he should now reciprocate the same for the BJP for at least one term.”

Mr. Paswan had further said that, “When people are supporting PM Modi government on all issues like abrogation of Article 370, Ram Mandir, Triple Talaq and NRC, why should Nitish Kumar not relinquish his post for the BJP for one term in Bihar?” He also added, “He [Nitish Kumar] has been the Chief Minister of the State for long 15 years and now the BJP should get chance for the development of the state with the PM Modi model.”

Party sources told The Hindu that Sanjay Paswan might not have made such comment about Nitish Kumar without having a “green signal” from the top party leadership in Delhi.

Supporters of another Bihar BJP leader and MP from Begusarai, Giriraj Singh, have performed prayers to see him as the chief minister of Bihar. However, Mr. Singh, who is also a Minister in the Modi Cabinet, later explained that his supporters might have said this “in over-excitement out respect for him”.

The Janata Dal-United (JD-U), though, reacted sharply to Sanjay Paswan’s comment. “Only Nitish Kumar will be the face of the NDA in the next Assembly elections in the State and it has been accepted even by the top BJP leaders,” said party leader and spokesperson Nikhil Mandal, while another party leader and chief spokesperson Sanjay Singh asked Mr. Paswan, “Where were you during the 2015 Assembly poll when the people of Bihar had voted for Nitish Kumar and not the BJP?”

Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav, though, dared the CM to “contradict” what the BJP leaders were saying. “Has the CM guts to contradict what BJP leaders are saying? Is it not true that honourable Nitish Kumar got votes in the name of PM Modi without releasing his party’s manifesto and got 16 of his party leaders elected as MPs on the BJP manifesto [in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll]…Is it not true that he has been supporting the BJP on every Bill?…Then how come he is different?” tweeted Mr. Yadav.

Recently, projecting Mr. Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate for the Assembly poll next year, the JD(U) released its revised party slogan “Kyon kare vichar, jab hain hi Nitish Kumar (why should we mull over, when there is Nitish Kumar)”. Earlier, the slogan was “kyon kare vichar, thike to hain Nitish Kumar (why should we mull over, when it’s okay to have Nitish Kumar) but they revised it when the media raised questions over the word “thike” (just okay).