Archives for February 2023

Darshan Solanki, a student at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, reportedly died by suicide on Sunday

Ahmedabad: The family of an IIT-Bombay student who died allegedly by suicide has claimed that he faced discrimination at the premier institute for belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC) community and that there is a strong possibility that he was “murdered”.

The Powai-based institute in Mumbai has rejected allegations of bias and has urged students to wait till the police and internal probes are over.

Darshan Solanki (18) died allegedly after jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building on the Powai campus of the IIT on Sunday. Hailing from Ahmedabad, he was a first-year student of B.Tech (Chemical) course.

His family members, who live in the Maninagar area of Ahmedabad city, claimed that though Darshan faced “discrimination for being a Dalit”, he could not have taken his own life.

“I strongly believe that my son was murdered. Hours before his death, he had called us but he talked normally and gave no indication that he was under any tension. However, when he came home during Makar Sankranti, he informed his aunt that other students were keeping their distance from him. They were upset because Darshan made such progress,” said his mother Tarlikaben Solanki.

Darshan’s father Rameshbhai alleged that the institute as well as hospital authorities had tried to cover up the matter and performed a post-mortem even before he reached Mumbai.

“I do not think that it was a case of suicide. If you fall from the seventh floor, you will sustain many injuries. But, when I saw my son’s face after the post-mortem, I did not see any injuries. How is that possible? Moreover, the PM (post-mortem) was done in a haste and that too without our permission. I was allowed to see only his face after the PM,” claimed Rameshbhai.

Darshan’s sister Jahnvi said the IIT-B management kept changing its stand about the reasons behind her brother’s death.

“His body was not shown to my parents, neither before nor after the PM. Earlier, the institute told us that he fell down the stairs. Then, the principal told us that my brother jumped from the building. Do they think we are fools? It seems that my brother was murdered,” she said.

His aunt Divyaben said Darshan once told her that other students had started maintaining distance upon learning that he belonged to an SC community.

“In January, he told me that other students were jealous of him. They used to ask Darshan how come you are studying for free while we have to spend a lot of money?’. They used to taunt him and ask him how he secured admission. Darshan was harassed there. But, he could not have taken his life due to such tension. It seems he was first murdered and then thrown from the building,” she claimed.

IIT-Bombay on Tuesday rejected charges of caste bias in the institute, saying initial inputs from friends suggested that there was no discrimination, and urged students to wait till police and internal probes were over.

Earlier on Wednesday, Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale visited IIT-B and demanded a thorough probe into Darshan’s death. Athawale said Darshan had called his father on Sunday and informed him that except for one paper, his other first semester exams went well.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that petroleum products can be included in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) framework once an agreement in this regard is reached among states.

Sitharaman also said that the effort of the government over the years has been to increase public expenditure with a view to promote growth.

“The provision is already available for petroleum products to be brought into the GST. My predecessor had already made the window kept open,” she said while speaking at the Post-Budget interactive session with the members of the industry chamber PHDCCI.

Five petroleum products viz. petroleum crude, motor spirit (petrol), high speed diesel, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel have temporarily been kept out and the GST Council shall decide the date from which they shall be included in GST.

“Once the states agree, we will have the petroleum products also be covered under the GST. So, that’s not so much of us not wanting it,” she said.

The 49th meeting of the GST Council is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on February 18, 2023.

“It is the entire (GST) council saying yes, and saying yes, not just yes, because it’s already in there.

“What they have to do is to determine a rate and once they tell me the rate, we get it into the GST,” the finance minister said.

The minister said that the government in the 2023-24 budget increased the capital expenditure by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore.

“Consistently for the last three-four years, the emphasis has been given on public capital expenditure. We have kept that up in this budget…capital expenditure, clearly can be said as a real focus of this budget,” she said.

“This is the first time in many years that the capital expenditure has reached a double-digit amount, making it the clear focus of this budget,” Sitharaman added.

She further said that the states were being nudged to carry forward reforms in various sectors including power and also implement the ‘one nation, one ration card’ scheme.

Sitharaman said that she was advised by the prime minister that momentum on growth should not be relaxed or diluted.

According to the minister, the 2023-24 budget is fiscally responsible, while ensuring public expenditure at a higher level to have a desired multiplier effect on all the sectors.

She also noted that the central government is collaborating with the states, as well as the tier III administrations, such as the Panchayats or ward-level administrations, to ensure that MSME priorities remain at the top of the agenda.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday sent a man accused of killing his live-in partner and stuffing her body into a fridge in southwest Delhi to five-day police custody for interrogation.

Sahil Gehlot, 24, a resident of Mitraon village in southwest Delhi, killed his partner, stuffed her body inside a refrigerator at his dhaba (eatery), and went off to marry another woman on the same day, police told the court.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Archana Beniwal granted the crime branch of Delhi police his custody for five days to interrogate him and ascertain the exact scene of the murder and the route he took after committing the alleged crime.

The court passed the order on an application moved by police.

In their remand application, police said they needed to take the accused to the places where the accused went with the deceased. They said the investigators intended to conduct searches at places linked to the crime and collect evidence.

The incident came to light on Valentine’s Day and police recovered the body of the 23-year-old woman on the basis of clues provided by the accused.

Police said the accused had hidden from his girlfriend Nikki Yadav that he was getting married to another woman.

When Nikki came to know about his wedding, she had a heated argument with the accused which led to her murder, police said.

“It has been claimed that she was threatening to implicate the man in a case if he married another woman,” a source said.

The couple was in relationship for the past few years and Nikki wanted to marry the accused, police said.

On the intervening night of February 9 and 10, when the victim confronted the accused about his marriage, he killed her using the data cable of his mobile phone in his car and then kept her body in a refrigerator at his dhaba, police said.

A case under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of an offence committed, or giving false information to screen offender) has been registered at Baba Haridas Nagar police station, police said.

Agra (UP): To commemorate the 368th death anniversary of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, entry to the Taj Mahal in Agra will be free for three days starting February 17, officials said on Wednesday.

Various rituals such as ‘chadar poshi’, ‘sandal’, ‘gusul’ and ‘kul’ among others will be held on the occasion, they said.

Superintending archeologist of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Agra Circle, Raj kumar Patel said, “There will be free entry for tourist in Taj Mahal from February 17, 18 and 19 on the occasion of the annual Urs of Shah Jahan.

“Tourists will get free entry on 17 and 18 February after 2 pm till sunset and on February 19 entry, it will be free from sunrise to sunset.”

Shamsuddin Khan, president of the Approved Tourist Guides Association said various rituals which will be held during the three days.

“On the last day of the ‘Urs’ an 1,880 meter-long ‘chadar’ would be offered.The ‘chadar poshi’ attracts people from all religions,” he said.

Arti Rana, a resident of Agra said during three days, ‘qawwalis’ in praise of the emperor and his wife Mumtaz are sung and the tourists also get a chance to visit the graves in the basement that are usually closed.

New Delhi: CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechury wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner on Tuesday, alleging Union Home Minister Amit Shah is trying to “influence” the assembly elections in Tripura.

Reiterating the accusations made by Jitendra Choudhury, Secretary of Tripura State Committee of CPI(M), in a separate letter sent to the CEC, Yechury raised the issue of Shah’s alleged “secret meeting” with top election and police officials including the director general of police.

There was no immediate reaction from the BJP.

“This is a very serious issue which concerns the conduct of the Union Home Minister in trying to directly influence the conduct of elections for the Tripura Assembly. You will recall that in our meeting with the full Election Commission last afternoon, we had expressed our apprehensions about such a possibility involving the Union Home Minister. You had assured us that the Election Commission is fully geared to meet all eventualities in ensuring a free and fair election,” Yechury said in his letter.

He said that this development which has been reported in the media has taken place despite that assurance.

“We urge you to initiate urgent action to undo the impact which is clearly a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. We also expect that the Election Commission of India will take report from the special observers and fix responsibility on the BJP and other important election officials who met the Union Home Minister,” he said.

Choudhury in his letter has attached a news report about the alleged meeting.

Patan (Guj): Six people including four women were killed and eight injured after a jeep rammed into a stationary truck from behind in Gujarat’s Patan district on Wednesday afternoon, police said.

The incident took place near Radhanpur when the driver of the Mahindra Jeep, which was carrying some 15 passengers, lost control after a tyre burst, said Deputy Superintendent of Police K K Pandya.

The jeep was heading for Varahi village, he said.

The deceased were identified as Samjubhai Fulwadi (50), Dudabhai Rathod (50), Radhaben Parmar (35), Kajal Parmar (59), Amruta Vanzara (15) and Pinalben Vanzara (7).

The injured persons were referred to different hospitals in Radhanpur and Patan, said Pandya.

A First Information Report under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Motor Vehicles Act will be registered against the drivers of both the vehicles if they are found guilty, he added.

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka on Wednesday in connection with two cases of blasts in Coimbatore and Mangaluru, its official spokesperson said.

The searches were carried out at 40 places — 32 in connection with the Coimbatore car bomb blast and eight linked to the Mangaluru blast.

One of the cases relates to a bomb blast in a car laden with explosives in front of Kottai Eswaran Temple in Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu.

The accused, Jamesha Mubeen, after swearing “Bayath” (allegiance) to the ISIS, was planning to carry out a suicide attack on October 23 last year and cause extensive damage to the temple complex with the intention to strike terror among a section of the society, the agency spokesperson said.

The second case relates to a pressure cooker bomb blast that took place in a moving auto-rickshaw in Mangaluru City in Karnataka on November 19 last year.

The blast occurred when the accused was carrying the improvised explosive device for planting it in a public place.

The searches led to the seizure of a large number of digital devices and Rs 4 lakh in cash, the spokesperson said, adding further investigations in these two cases are on.

The searches linked to the Coimbatore case were carried out in 32 places in Tamil Nadu and Kerala — Coimbatore (14), Trichy (1), Nilgiris (2), Tirunelveli (3), Tuticorin (1), Chennai (3), Thiruvannamalai (2), Dindigul (1), Mayiladuthurai (1), Krishnagiri (1), Kanyakumari (1), Tenkasi (1) and Ernakulam (1).

The agency carried out searches in eight places in connection with the Mangaluru case — Tiruppur (2) and Coimbatore (1) of Tamil Nadu, Ernakulam (4) of Kerala, and Mysuru (1) of Karnataka.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

Bengaluru: In a significant announcement, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the government will spend 75 per cent of the total defence capital outlay for procurement from domestic defence manufacturers from 2023-24.

The decision will mean setting aside of around Rs 100,000 crore for procurement of military platforms and equipment from the Indian manufacturers, he said.

Singh made the announcement at an event where several agreements and technology transfer agreements were firmed up among large number of defence companies which participated in Aero India 2023.

“It is a very significant decision which will further strengthen the domestic defence manufacturing sector,” Singh said.

He also said that Aero India 2023 has shown that the Indian defence sector is ready to march ahead along with top global defence companies.

The MoUs and technology transfer agreements signed during Aero India will facilitate a new beginning for defence manufacturing in India, he said.

A new chapter in India’s aerospace sector has begun today, he said referring to the agreements.