Archives for August 2019

According to tweets shared by the official handle of Delhi’s Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cyber Crime Cell, the 28-year-old delivery boy Abhishek Tiwari ‘gave life threats’ to Kejriwal.

NEW DELHI: A 28-year-old man who allegedly sent death threats by email to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested in Mumbai, police said on Friday.

According to the police, the accused, identified as Abhishek Tiwari, who works as a delivery boy with a furniture firm in Mumbai, was not satisfied with his job and his life and wanted to do something big to draw the attention of people.

Tiwari had also sent a bomb threat by email to a national political party’s headquarters in the capital.

Tiwari, a school dropout from Unnao, had been living in Mumbai since 2016. He came up with the idea of sending threatening emails to political leaders in July, said Anyesh Roy, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cybercrime Unit of Special Cell.

“The first such mail that was sent by him was about a local municipal office-bearer of a major political party in Mumbai. Disappointed with the lukewarm response, he upped the ante and decided to send threat mails to senior political leaders,” said Roy. Tiwari sent threatening mails to the Delhi chief minister, Roy said.

Three police teams were formed for arresting the accused. Based on technical analysis of inputs collected regarding the origin of an e-mail, connected mobile phone and IP logs, teams were rushed to Mumbai and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. With a deep analysis of technical inputs, his location was traced to Nalasopara, Mumbai. The police searched through hundreds of chawls until the accused was nabbed from one.

Power outage is a major issue across the district as strong winds have resulted in trees falling on electric lines in many places

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As incessant rain continued to wreak havoc in the northern districts of Kerala, the southern part of the state experienced destruction on a lesser scale.

Around  50 houses were destroyed and 19 people including eight women and four children were shifted to the newly opened relief camp at Kurisumuttom Grandhashala in Vilavoorkkal panchayat of Kattakada. 
People of five houses were shifted to the camp after a tree fell on their houses.

Public told to stay safe

The district administration has warned people that the rivers now have strong currents and that they must stay away from venturing into the water. 
Power outage is a major issue across the district as strong winds have resulted in trees falling on electricity lines in many places. Overnight rain has left the pits dug on the side of Karamana-Kaliyakkavila highway filled with water. 

The administration has also issued a warning against travelling to hilly areas. “Boating has also been restricted,” said an official. 

Dam shutter raised
The shutter of Aruvikkara dam was raised by 1.10 metre and water is being systematically discharged. If needed, the shutter might be raised a little more. 
“We are releasing water from the dam as the water level has risen close to its capacity. People living on the riverside have been warned,” said District Collector K Gopalakrishnan.

Relief Material 
Collection Centres 
Thiruvananthapuram Corporation (24×7) – 9496434503
Law College, PMG
Karyavattom Campus
Technopark, Kazhakoottam
Opposite Kedaram Shopping complex
Pattom Govt Model Girls School 
Students Centre, PMG
Bharat Bhavan (24×7) -9995484148

Although the overall situation has improved slightly, the operation to evacuate the flooded areas and moving stranded people to safer locations and providing relief to them is still on.

PUNE: The flood situation in Kolhapur and Sangli districts in western Maharashtra showed signs of improvement on Saturday as water started to recede from inundated areas, officials said.

However, it would take at least two to three days for the water to completely recede from the districts, they said.

Although the overall situation has improved slightly, the operation to evacuate the flooded areas and moving stranded people to safer locations and providing relief to them is still on.

“There is an improvement in the overall situation. Water is receding, albeit slowly. Currently, the water level in Kolhapur is at 52 feet although the danger level is 47 feet. The highest water level during the current flood was 57 feet,” Abhinav Deshmukh, Kolhapur Superintendent of Police, told PTI.

As rains have stopped in the district, the situation is likely to improve further, officials said.

In neighboring Sangli district as well, the water level is receding gradually.

Till 6 am, it stood at 56.7 feet, the officials said.

Deshmukh said considering the current situation, it might take another two to three days for the water to recede from Kolhapur district completely.

The operation to evacuate the flood-hit areas is going on, but there is no life-threatening situation is there in the district, he said.

“Currently the evacuation is mainly concentrated in Shirol and Kurundwad tehsils of Kolhapur,” the officer said, adding that copters are being used to drop food packets.

Meanwhile, three more bodies were recovered in the boat capsize incident that took place on Thursday near Brahmanal village in Palus tehsil of Sangli district during the flood rescue operations.

Nine persons had drowned and as many others had gone missing in the incident.

“We have recovered three more bodies, including that of a girl,” the officer said.

With the recovery of three more bodies, the death toll in the incident has gone up to 12.

A total of 26 Navy teams with 110 personnel and 26 boats have been deployed in Kolhapur and Sangli districts.

They will continue to remain stationed in the area till the flood situation improves, a defence statement said.

Additional 15 teams of the Navy from Visakhapatnam will reach Kolhapur by Saturday afternoon to assist in the rescue operation, a defence spokesperson said.

At present there are 14 Navy teams in Kolhapur district and 12 in Sangli helping the state administration in evacuating the flood-hit areas, the official said.

According to officials, over 2.85 lakh people were rescued due to the devastating floods, from Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Pune and Solapur districts and the death toll due to floods in the five districts was 29 till Friday.

According to an official, the discharge from Almatti dam in Karnataka on the Krishna is 5,00,000 cusec (cubic foot per second), which is expected to ease the floods upstream.

The address comes days ahead of the Prime Minister’s annual Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on the historic step to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and split the state into two Union Territories, informed sources said.

The broadcast will be aired on All India Radio at 4 p.m.

The address comes days ahead of the Prime Minister’s annual Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort.

Shah appreciated Bangladesh’s policy of not allowing use of its territory by extremists and insurgents for perpetrating violence in other countries including India.

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday raised with Bangladesh India’s concerns over illegal immigration from that country to the Northeast.

The issue was flagged before Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan at the 7th meeting of India-Bangladesh Home Minister Level Talks (HMLT) here.

Shah raised India’s concern regarding the illicit movement of people across the border, with a view to find solutions to this problem especially in Northeast India, an official statement said.

This came ahead of the publication of the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam on August 31.

When the draft NRC was published last year, 40 lakh names were excluded, leading to a huge political controversy.

Assam and other Northeastern states have been facing the problem of influx from neighbouring Bangladesh through the porus border.

Both the home ministers reaffirmed the need to further curb the menace of trans-border crimes, and therefore agreed to the need for greater co-operation to achieve “our aim of a secure border”, the statement said.

Both sides also reviewed the pending issues related to security and infrastructure at the borders and agreed to take steps to resolve the matters expeditiously.

Shah assured Khan of India’s continuing support for safe and speedy repatriation of the displaced Myanmar citizens sheltered in Bangladesh, for whom India has provided humanitarian assistance in four tranches since September 2017.

The leaders also looked forward to enhancing cooperation in simplifying people-to-people contact and travel for business, health and tourism, including through promoting connectivity, it said.

This was Shah’s first interaction with a foreign leader after assuming charge as the country’s home minister two months ago.

Following the talks, Shah said in a tweet he “had extensive discussion on the bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh”.

During the meeting, the ministers expressed satisfaction that both countries were working closer than ever before in every sector, including security and border management.

They reiterated their commitment to keep the borders friendly, and in this regard appreciated the close co-operation between their border guarding forces, the statement said.

Shah appreciated Bangladesh’s policy of not allowing use of its territory by extremists and insurgents for perpetrating violence in other countries including India.

Shah congratulated the visiting dignitary on his resumption of the office as home minister of Bangladesh for a second term, and reiterated India’s full support for Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s development agenda.

Both the ministers reiterated the significance attached to the bilateral relationship, that is forged in the 1971 Liberation War, which goes far beyond a strategic partnership.

“Today, our ties are a role model for good neighbourly relations across the world. They are rooted in history, culture, language and shared values of democracy, secularism, development cooperation and countless other commonalities,” the statement said.

India shares a 4,096-km-long border with Bangladesh.