Bijapur (Chhattisgarh): Two personnel of the Special Task Force (STF) were killed and four others injured after Naxalites denoted an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, police said on Thursday.

The incident took place on Wednesday night in Tarrem area when a joint team of security personnel was returning after an anti-Naxalite operation in forests on the tri-junction of Bijapur-Sukma-Dantewada districts, a police official here said.

Personnel belonging to the STF, District Reserve Guard – both units of state police, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit CoBRA were involved in the operation launched on Tuesday based on inputs about the presence of Naxalites belonging to its Darbha and west Bastar divisions and military company no. 2, he said.

“Two STF constables — Bharat Sahu, resident of Raipur, and Satyer Singh Kange, of Narayanpur district — were killed in the blast triggered by Naxalites while four other personnel sustained injuries,” he said.

Reinforcement was rushed to the area after the incident and the injured personnel were evacuated for treatment, he added.

New Delhi: The CBI has questioned three students from AIIMS Patna in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case, officials said Thursday.

Further details on the students being quizzed were not immediately known.

The agency on Tuesday had arrested Pankaj Kumar alias Aditya, a 2017-batch civil engineer from the National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur, who allegedly stole the NEET-UG paper from the NTA trunk in Hazaribagh, the officials said.

Kumar, a resident of Bokaro, was arrested from Patna, they said.

The CBI had also arrested one Raju Singh who allegedly helped Kumar in stealing the paper, they said, adding that Singh was arrested from Hazaribagh.

The CBI, which is probing the alleged irregularities in the medical-entrance exam, has lodged six FIRs. The FIR from Bihar pertains to paper leak while the remaining ones from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are regarding impersonation of candidates and cheating.

The agency’s own FIR on a reference from the Union education ministry pertains to a “comprehensive investigation” into the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024.

The NEET-UG is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions. This year, the exam was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. More than 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the test.

Police have detained Manorama Khedkar, mother of controversial IAS probationer Puja Khedkar, in a case of allegedly threatening some persons by brandishing a gun over a land dispute, officials said on Wednesday.

She was apprehended from Mahad in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, a Pune police official said.

Police had launched a search for Manorama and her husband Dilip Khedkar after a video surfaced showing her allegedly threatening some persons with a gun over a land dispute at Dhadwali village in Pune’s Mulshi tehsil.

The Paud police in Pune rural have booked the Khedkar couple and five others under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) sections, including 323 (dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property), and relevant provisions of the Arms act.

“Manorama Khedkar has been detained from Mahad in Raigad district and she is being brought to Pune where, after the completion of formalities, she will be placed under arrest,” Superintendent of Police, Pune Rural, Pankaj Deshmukh, said.

Multiple teams had been formed to trace Manorama, her husband and five others accused in the case.

BJP MLA Pannalal Shakya

Guna {MP}: A BJP MLA in Madhya Pradesh advised students to open “motorcycle puncture repair shops” since nothing would be gained by obtaining degrees, the statement ironically coming at an event to inaugurate a ‘PM College of Excellence’ in his Guna assembly constituency.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had e-inaugurated PM College of Excellence in 55 districts in the state on Sunday at a function held in Indore, with separate events held in the respective districts, including Guna.

“We are opening a PM College of Excellence today. I appeal to everyone to keep one sentence (bodh vakya) in mind that nothing is going to happen with these college degrees. Instead, open a motorcycle puncture repair shop to at least earn a livelihood,” BJP MLA Pannalal Shakya said at the event.

Congress General Secretary (In-charge, Communications) Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at the BJP over the remarks by the party MLA.

“We must credit the BJP for the top-class discipline in their economic messaging. The self-anointed divinity talks about the virtues of selling ‘pakodas’ as an antidote to unemployment, and their MLAs dismiss college degrees as ‘useless’ and urge students to open puncture shops,” Ramesh said on X.

In an apparent reference to the mega plantation drive held in Indore on Sunday, during which a world record 11 lakh-plus saplings were planted in a span of 24 hours, Shakya said, “People are planting trees but not interested in watering them”.

One must first try to save the ‘panchtatva (five elements comprising earth, air, water, solar energy and sky) that forms the human body, he said.

“There is concern over pollution and environment but nobody is working in this direction (saving panchtatva). How long will we protect the trees we planted today and ensure they grow,” he asked, while pointing out to what he claimed was rampant encroachment on government land along rivers and drains.

People are eating anything without caring about side-effects, Shakya added.

New Delhi: The BJP’s tally in Rajya Sabha has dipped below 90 for the first time in the past few years but the party and its allies are expected to not only recoup their losses in the coming weeks but also make some gains when by-elections are held to fill the existing vacancies.

While the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is confident of winning two seats each in Bihar, Maharashtra and Assam; and one each in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tripura due to their numerical superiority over the opposition, the four new nominated members are also expected to be pro-treasury benches whenever the government names them.

Though nominated members are usually independent in the House in terms of their party affiliation, they are traditionally supportive of the agenda of the government which picks them.

The current strength of Rajya Sabha is 226 with the BJP having 86 followed by 26 of the Congress and 13 of the Trinamool Congress (TMC). There are 19 vacancies.

The ruling Congress is looking to win the lone seat in Telangana at the expense of the BRS but its gain will be cancelled in Rajasthan where the BJP, which has a strong majority, will pick up the seat vacated by K C Venugopal, a senior member of the opposition party who won the Lok Sabha poll from Alappuzha in Kerala.

The BJP is also confident of winning the solitary seat in Haryana where the poll will be held to fill the vacancy caused by the election of its Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda to Lok Sabha.

The Congress, though, hopes that a few MLAs, who are either independent or affiliated to regional parties and are looking for political alternatives ahead of the assembly polls expected in October, may switch sides and help it make a fight.

The Election Commission (EC) is yet to announce the date for elections to fill the 11 vacancies effected by the resignation of as many members. Ten of them were elected to Lok Sabha while one MP, K Keshava Rao of the BRS, quit after joining the Congress.

Out of the total 19 vacancies in the 245-member Rajya Sabha, four are from Jammu and Kashmir where there is no assembly currently after the erstwhile state was made a Union Territory in 2019.

Despite an increase in its strength over the last few years, the BJP-led NDA has remained short of a majority in Rajya Sabha but has been able to push its legislative agenda due to support from some unaligned parties, including the YSR Congress and the BJD.

While the BJD joined the opposition’s ranks during the first session of Parliament during the third term of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the YSR Congress remains sympathetic to the ruling bloc.

 Late gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s son on Monday alleged before the Supreme Court that the food given to his father was “poisoned” and he was denied the requisite medical treatment due to which he died in custody.

On March 28, Ansari, a five-time MLA from Mau Sadar constituency, died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Banda in Uttar Pradesh.

A bench of justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti was hearing a plea filed in 2023 by Umar Ansari, son of Mukhtar Ansari, raising the issue of safety and security of his father within the Banda jail premises where he was lodged.

“All we can say is, what we feared, has happened,” senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Umar Ansari, told the bench.

“We can’t bring him back Mr Sibal. You know that very well,” the bench observed, adding that the petitioner had anticipated an encounter like situation.

Arguing that some enquiry should be conducted in the matter, Sibal said “human beings in this country can’t be treated like this”.

He said they have filed an application seeking to amend the prayer made in the plea.

The bench, which issued notice on the application, told Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj, who was appearing for Uttar Pradesh, that he can file his response to it.

It granted four weeks time to Nataraj to file a response.

Sibal told the bench that the petitioner has alleged that food given to his father was poisoned.

The bench noted the petitioner’s submission that Mukhtar Ansari was denied requisite medical treatment in the prison which led to his death in custody.

While hearing the plea on January 16, the apex court had directed the state authorities to continue with the all the security arrangements to ensure that Mukhtar Ansari was fully protected from any security breach and consequences.

Umar Ansari had moved the apex court seeking a direction to transfer Mukhtar Ansari to any prison outside Uttar Pradesh, saying he apprehended “imminent and serious threat” to his life.

The plea said several attempts had been made on the life of Mukhtar Ansari by those inimical to him in view of his political affiliations and he had already been attacked five times in the past.

Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the Jyotish Peeth in Uttarakhand, who turned down the invitation to the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya, on Monday said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray is a victim of betrayal.

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his blessings when they met at the ‘Shubh Ashirwad’ ceremony of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant in Mumbai on Saturday, the Shankaracharya said he is Modi’s well-wisher.

“Yes, PM Modi came to me and did a ‘pranaam’. It is our rule that we will bless whoever comes to us. Narendra Modi ji is not our enemy. We are his well-wishers and always speak for his welfare. If he makes a mistake, we also point that out to him. He is not our enemy,” he said.

“Uddhav Thackeray has been betrayed and many people are anguished by it. I met him today as per his request and told him that people’s pain won’t subside till he becomes the chief minister again,” he told reporters after meeting Thackeray at the latter’s residence Matoshree in Bandra.

He (Uddhav) said he will do whatever was needed as per our blessings, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati said.

Betrayal is the biggest sin, he said, adding, “The one who betrays can’t be a Hindu. The one who tolerates betrayal is a Hindu.

“The entire populace of Maharashtra is anguished by the betrayal and this was reflected in the recent (Lok Sabha) elections,” he said.

“We don’t have anything to do with politics, but we are talking about betrayal which is a sin as per religion,” he added.

Uddhav Thackeray had to resign as Maharashtra chief minister in June 2022 after Eknath Shinde rebelled, walking out with a majority of the Shiv Sena MLAs with him to become the CM by forming the government in alliance with the BJP.

On the laying of a foundation stone of a Kedarnath temple in New Delhi on July 10 by Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the seer said, When the address for Kedarnath is in the Himalayas, how can it be in Delhi? Why are you confusing the people?

The Shankaracharya also attended a puja ceremony at Matoshree bungalow.

Guwahati: The Assam government has asked its border police unit not to forward cases of non-Muslim illegal immigrants entering the state before 2015 to the Foreigners Tribunal, and advised them to apply for citizenship under the CAA.

In a letter to the Special Director General of Police (Border), Home and Political Secretary Parth Pratim Majumdar referred to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and said all those non-Muslim immigrants who entered India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan by 2014 are eligible to be granted Indian citizenship.

The letter, issued on July 5, asked the Assam Police’s border wing not to forward the cases of persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Jain and Christian communities who entered India prior to December 31, 2014 directly to the Foreigners Tribunal (FT).

Majumdar stated that such persons should be advised to apply on the citizenship portal for consideration of their application by the Indian government.

“However, this facility will not be available to people who entered into Assam from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan after 31st December, 2014 irrespective of their religion. Once detected, they should be forwarded to the jurisdictional Foreigners Tribunal for further action,” he said.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the letter was issued as per norms.

“It was a statutory order. There is nothing objectionable in that and it was as per law,” he asserted.

Sarma also said anyone coming to Assam in 2015 or later will be deported back to their country of origin.

According to the Assam Accord, names of all foreigners coming to the state on or after March 25, 1971 would be detected and deleted from electoral rolls, and steps would be taken to deport them.