Archives for 2024

Sagar (MP): Five police officials were suspended for allegedly seizing a vehicle involved in an accident and later replacing it with another one in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district, an official said on Sunday.

Sagar’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhishek Tiwari said Civil Lines police station in-charge Ajay Pratap and four other policemen have been suspended following a confidential complaint.

A boy was killed in an accident earlier this year and the police had seized a vehicle that was involved and did not have a licence plate number, he said.

However, these officials allegedly later replaced the vehicle with another one in their records, the official said.

The policemen were found guilty in the initial investigation, and the probe is on and the accused officials will also be heard, he said.

Further legal steps will be taken if they are found guilty in the probe, the SP said.

Mumbai: Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday said the INDIA alliance’s fight was not against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah personally but against the ideology of hate.

Speaking at the INDIA bloc’s rally in Shivaji Park here, the former Bihar deputy chief minister said the need was to protect the diversity and brotherhood in the nation.

“Modi is a manufacturer, wholesaler and distributor of lies, but truthful people like us are not scared,” he asserted, adding that those in the Maharashtra government are “dealers and not leaders”.

The ruling alliance in the state comprises the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the BJP and the Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party.

“In Maharashtra, only MLAs are made to defect but in Bihar they (BJP) hijacked my chacha,” he said, an apparent reference to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar changing sides and returning to the NDA after dumping the RJD.

Governments are being toppled with help of ED and CBI, Yadav said.

Mumbai: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said he was compelled to launch his Bharat Jodo yatras to highlight rising unemployment, inflation and hatred in society.

Addressing the opposition INDIA bloc rally at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park after the conclusion of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi won’t be able to win the Lok Sabha elections without “EVMs, ED, CBI and Income Tax”.

“Modi is a mask’ who works for a shakti’ (power). He is a shallow man who doesn’t have a 56-inch chest,” Gandhi said.

The former Congress president alleged that PM Modi had a “monopoly over corruption”.

“Do you think the Shiv Sena and NCP people split and joined the ruling alliance just like that,” he asked.

While Eknath Shinde led a split in the Shiv Sena in 2022 and aligned with the BJP to become the Maharashtra chief minister, Ajit Pawar triggered a similar upheaval in the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) last year.

Gandhi also claimed that a leader from Maharashtra cried in front of his mother Sonia Gandhi, saying he felt ashamed that he could not “fight this power any more and didn’t want to go to jail”.

He claimed Modi can’t win elections “without EVMs (electronic voting machines)”.

“We asked the Election Commission of India to count the VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) also. But our demand hasn’t been accepted,” he said.

In a show of strength, leaders of several constituents of the opposition INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) grouping assembled here for the mega rally ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, which will be held in seven phases starting April 19.

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday congratulated former Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his “strong determination” on the occasion of the conclusion of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, and described him as a “rare person”.

Rahul Gandhi concluded his 63-day-old Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Mumbai by paying tributes to Dr B R Ambedkar at his memorial Chaityabhoomi in central Mumbai and reading the Preamble of the Constitution.

On Sunday, Akhilesh Yadav along with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was scheduled to take part in the event. However, the SP chief did not attend the event.

In a letter dated March 17, written to Gandhi by Yadav, the SP chief said, “Today your Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is concluding in Mumbai. Rare are those people, who can take out such ‘yatra’. Heartiest congratulations to you for your strong determination.

“You started this yatra from Manipur, which is burning due to the failure of the BJP government. You have given a strong message against the dictator government from the north-east. During the course of the entire yatra, you met (people from) all the sections of the society, including farmers, youngsters, women, elderly and you got acquainted with their problems very closely,” Yadav said.

The SP chief went on to say, “The Election Commission yesterday announced the elections. Nominations will begin in UP from March 20, and owing to its preparations, I will not be able to attend the closing programme of the yatra.

“Not only hopeful, but fully confident that the public will uproot and throw out the BJP, which is against the farmers, youngsters, backwards, Dalits and women. The real success of the yatra will be that the BJP gets defeated in these elections,” Yadav said.

The former Congress president was accompanied by his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday.

The yatra, which commenced from strife-torn Manipur on January 14, entered Mumbai from neighbouring Thane on the 63rd day on Saturday.

On February 21, INDIA bloc partners SP and Congress announced a tie-up for the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with the UP’s main opposition party leaving 17 out of the 80 seats in the state for the ally.

In Madhya Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party will contest on a single seat, Khajuraho, and support the Congress in the remaining constituencies in the state.

Among the 17 seats on which the Congress will contest in UP include Rae Bareli and Amethi, once considered pocket boroughs of the party, and Varanasi which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency.

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday skipped the ED summons in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also termed the summons “illegal” and accused the BJP government at the Centre of using the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to target Kejriwal.

The ED had summoned Kejriwal for questioning on Monday 18 in a money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the DJB. This is the second case registered under the anti-money laundering law in which the 55-year-old politician, also the AAP national convenor, has been summoned.

He is already facing summons for questioning in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case. Kejriwal has skipped eight summonses in this case till now, terming them illegal.

A fresh and ninth such notice in the excise policy case stipulates him to appear before an ED investigating officer on March 21.

New Delhi/Ajmer : Four coaches of the Sabarmati-Agra superfast train derailed near the Ajmer station on Monday morning, officials said.

No loss of life was reported in the incident that occurred at around 1 am, they said, adding that the express train was on its way to Agra.

“The incident took place when the train crossed Ajmer station and it was about to reach Madar station. The reason for the derailment is not known yet,” Shashi Kiran, Chief Public Relations Officer, North Western Railway (NWR) Zone, told PTI.

“No injury or casualty has been reported. The train movement in the up/down direction towards the Delhi side has already started. We are about to start the services in the Uttar Pradesh direction too,” he added.

The NWR has set up a helpdesk at the Ajmer station and also released a helpline number — 0145-2429642 — for relatives of the passengers travelling on the train, the official said.

“Six trains have been cancelled and two trains have been diverted to other routes,” Kiran said.