Maharajganj (UP): At least six labourers were injured when an under-construction bridge collapsed on the Sonauli-Gorakhpur National Highway near Mohanapur Dhala here, a police official said on Tuesday.

The accident occurred on Monday night during ongoing road construction work.

“During the highway construction activity, a portion of the under-construction bridge suddenly gave way, trapping several workers under the debris,” Dharmendra Singh, Station House Officer of the local Purandarpur police station, said.

Police teams rushed to the scene immediately after the incident. The injured labourers were rescued from the rubble and transported to Pharenda Community Health Centre (CHC), he said.

“All the injured workers have been admitted to the hospital, and their condition is stable,” Singh added.

The debris was cleared using JCB machines, and the site has been secured. Further investigation into the cause of the collapse is underway.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to convene a special session of Parliament to discuss the Pahalgam terror attack and demonstrate a collective resolve.

Several opposition MPs have made a similar demand to the government in the wake of the dastardly attack in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed last week, leaving the nation grief-stricken and outraged.

India has cited “cross-border linkages” to the horrific incident and promised severe punishment to those involved in the strike.

In the letter to the prime minister, Kharge said, “At this moment, when unity and solidarity is essential, the opposition believes that it is important to convene a special session of both Houses of Parliament at the earliest.

“This will be a powerful demonstration of our collective resolve and willpower to deal with the brutal terror attack in Pahalgam on innocent citizens on April 22. It is our fond hope that the session will be accordingly convened,” the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha added.

Rahul Gandhi too wrote a letter to Modi with the same request and said the Pahalgam tragedy has outraged every Indian.

“At this critical time, India must show that we will always stand together against terrorism. The Opposition believes that a special session of both Houses of Parliament should be convened, where the representatives of the people can show their unity and determination.”

“We request that such a special session be convened at the earliest,” he added.

Sharing his letter to the prime minister on X, Gandhi said, “At this critical time, India must show that we always stand together against terrorism.”

Mandsaur: A speeding van plunged into a water-filled well after hitting a bike in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district on Sunday, leaving 11 persons, including a biker and a rescuer, dead, police said.

The incident occurred in the Narayangarh police station area.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the accident and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs 50,000.

“Saddened by the loss of lives in an accident in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon,” Modi stated on X.

Ratlam range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Manoj Singh said 13 persons were travelling in the van.

“Four of them were rescued while nine others died. A villager, identified as Manohar, who descended into the well for rescue, also died,” he said, adding that the body of a victim of the accident is yet to be pulled out of the well.

Prima facie, the van driver lost control of the wheel after the vehicle hit a bike and fell into the well. The bike rider was also killed, he said.

A rescue operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and personnel of other units, is underway.

Deputy Chief Minister Jagdish Devda, who rushed to the site, said the driver apparently lost control of the vehicle, causing it to veer off the road and land into a well.

Pithoragarh (Ukd): More than 80 per cent of high schools and intermediate colleges in Uttarakhand are functioning without principals, according to a reply to an RTI application.

The data was provided by the secondary education department in response to the RTI application filed by Pankaj Bhatt, a resident of the Tildhukri area here.

According to the data, 831 of the 910 sanctioned posts of principals are vacant in the state’s high schools. Of these sanctioned posts, 753 are for men and 78 for women.

Pauri district tops the list with 109 of the 116 sanctioned posts vacant.

In intermediate colleges, 1,180 of the 1,248 sanctioned posts of principals are vacant. Out of the total sanctioned posts, 1,043 are for men and 97 for women, the data stated.

It showed Tehri district has the highest number of vacancies with 172 of the 183 sanctioned posts vacant.

New Delhi: Krunal Pandya recorded his first fifty in IPL since 2016, helping Royal Challengers Bengaluru pull off a six-wicket win over Delhi Capitals on a challenging Feroz Shah Kotla track here on Sunday.

Krunal (73 not out of 47 balls), who has part of every IPL season since his debut in 2016, paced his innings perfectly while batting alongside chase master Virat Kohli (51 off 47).

The duo shared a 119-run stand off 84 balls as RCB chased down 163 in 18.3 overs to extend their unbeaten run away from home.

RCB bowlers put a squeeze on Delhi Capitals in the middle overs through Josh Hazlewood and the spinners to limit the home team to 162 for six.

For RCB, it was their seventh win in 10 games while DC suffered only their third loss in nine matches. Both teams are on course to make the play-offs.

At 26 for three, RCB felt the heat before Krunal and Kohli bailed them out.

In his maiden season for RCB, Krunal has made valuable contributions with both bat and ball.

Srinagar: Authorities here have demolished the houses of three alleged active terrorists in Bandipora, Pulwama and Shopian districts of Jammu and Kashmir as security forces continued their crackdown on the terror ecosystem following the Pahalgam terror attack.

With this, nine houses of suspected terrorists and overground workers of terror outfits have been razed so far since the April 22 attack in the lush meadows of Baisaran that killed 26 people and left the nation grief-stricken and fuming.

As part of the anti-terror crackdown, that picked up more steam after the Pahalgam tragedy, security forces have raided more than 500 locations in the Valley in just five days and grilled hundreds of suspects. Political parties have urged the Centre to ensure that innocent people are not targeted while it goes after terrorists.

Carrying on with the targeted demolition drive, authorities pulled down the house of Adnan Shafi at Wandina in Shopian district on Saturday night, officials said and claimed that Shafi had joined terrorist ranks last year.

The house of another suspected active terrorist Amir Nazir was pulled down in Pulwama district, they said.

In Bandipora district, the house of suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, Jameel Ahmad Shergojri, was razed. Officials said Shergojri has been an active terrorist since 2016.

With security agencies launching a massive operation against the terror ecosystem active in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said the Centre should proceed carefully and avoid alienating innocent people while hunting down terrorists.

“The Indian government must tread with caution and carefully distinguish between terrorists and civilians following the recent Pahalgam attack. It must not alienate innocent people, especially those opposing terror,” she said in a post on X.

The former chief minister alleged there were reports of “thousands being arrested and scores of houses of common Kashmiris being demolished along with those of militants”.

“I appeal to the government to direct the authorities to take care that innocent people are not made to bear the brunt as alienation aids terrorists’ goals of division and fear,” she added.

Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also asked the Centre not to punish innocent Kashmiris in its quest for justice for the victims of the terror attack.

“While the Kashmiris collectively condemn the heinous crime at Pahalgam, and it is imperative to bring its perpetrators to justice, indiscriminate arrests and videos of houses and neighbourhoods being demolished circulating on social media is disturbing and distressing.

“I urge the authorities that in seeking justice for the innocent victims do not punish innocent Kashmiri families,” he said on X.

People’s Conference leader Sajad Lone said those handling law and order should not do anything that can reverse the mindset that has changed after the Pahalgam attack. “The mass protests against the Pahalgam killings was a rare occurrence, a first of its kind in the last 78 years… This a monumental shift, a milestone, but fragile at the same time.”

“I hope that those in charge of law and order do understand the significance of the shift and don’t do anything erroneously which impedes the shift or facilitates a return to the earlier mindset,” he wrote on X.

The former minister said there was a general feeling across the Valley that the whole family was being punished for the actions of one person. “We approached the court also and termed it a form of collective punishment, inspired by the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, where the British were convinced of criminality and attributed it to ancestry.”

“Using collectiveness to define criminality or terrorism is a curse and will never allow reconciliation and social introspection. I hope what has been achieved in the aftermath of the heinous carnage in Pahalgam, is understood by those at the helm. And these precious gains are not frittered away,” he added.

Following the Pahalgam terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to hunt down the killers “to the ends of the earth” as his government linked the dastardly attack to Pakistan.

Since then New Delhi has announced a raft of retaliatory steps, including the cancellation of visas and suspension of the 1960s Indus Water Treaty, and Islamabad hitting back with a string of tit-for-tat measures, that included putting the 1972 Shimla Agreement in abeyance.

Pakistan has warned that if India actually goes through with diverting or blocking the Indus water flow, Islamabad would see it as an “act of war”.

Ranchi: The High Court of Jharkhand has observed that calling a tribal “an adivasi” will not constitute an offence under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary, while hearing a criminal writ filed by one Sunil Kumar, has held that in order to constitute an offence punishable under the SC/ST(POA) Act, the victim ought to be a member of a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe.

The word “adivasi” is not a tribe as per the schedule provided in the Constitution of India, and unless the victim comes under the list of the scheduled tribes noted in the Constitution, no case under the Act can be made out against the accused, the court observed.

The court was hearing the petition of Kumar, a public servant who had challenged an FIR, registered against him with the Dumka Police Station.

The victim, who lodged the FIR, happens to be a member of the scheduled tribe.

The victim mentioned in the FIR that she had gone to meet Kumar in his office to serve an application under the Right to Information Act.

Kumar had allegedly refused to accept the application and is said to have called the victim an “insane adivasi”.

The woman also alleged that Kumar drove her out of his office and humiliated her.

Kumar’s counsel Chandana Kumari argued before the court that he had not mentioned the woman’s specific caste or tribe that she belongs to and only used the word “adivasi”.

This cannot be an offence, Kumari argued.

She also stated that the FIR has been registered under the SC/ST Act.

The court observed, in its order passed on April 8, that continuation of the criminal proceedings against Kumar, who is undisputedly a public servant, will amount to an abuse of process of law.

The court quashed the FIR and set aside the proceedings arising out of the case.

Hyderabad: Rohit Sharma scored his second successive half-century and shared a 53-run partnership with Suryakumar Yadav (40 not out) as Mumbai Indians thrashed Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets to register their fourth consecutive win in the IPL, here on Wednesday.

Chasing a below-par 143 for 8, built on the efforts of Heinrich Klaasen efforts (71 off 44 balls) and his 99-run stand with Abhinav Manohar (43 off 37 balls), Rohit was in his zone as he hit 70 off 46 deliveries to bring a swift end to the home team’s misery in 15.4 overs.

Earlier, pacers Deepak Chahar and Trent Boult led an impressive bowling show as Mumbai Indians restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Chahar (2/12) and Boult (4/26) rattled SRH in their opening spells as Pat Cummins’ side were reduced to 13 for 4 in the fifth over before Heinrich Klaasen pulled things back a bit with his classy half-ton.

Brief Scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 143 for 8 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 71, Abhinav Manohar 43; Deepak Chahar 2/12, Trent Boult 4/26).

Mumbai Indians: 146 for 3 in 15.4 overs (Rohit Sharma 70, Will Jacks 22, Suryakumar Yadav 40 not out).

New Delhi The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has attached fresh assets worth more than Rs 1,500 crore as part of a money-laundering investigation against the Sahara Group.

A provisional order was issued by the federal probe agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach a total of 1,023 acres of land of Sahara Prime City Limited in 16 cities.

The total value of these plots is Rs 1,538 crore (according to the 2016 circle rate). These pieces of land were purchased through “benami” transactions, with the funds “diverted” from Sahara entities, the agency said in a statement.

These pieces of land are located in Gujarat, Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, the statement said.

Last week, the ED attached 707 acres of land in Amby Valley, located in Maharashtra’s Lonavala, worth Rs 1,460 crore (market value).

The money-laundering case stems from more than 500 FIRs filed by various state police departments.

Three FIRs registered against Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Limited (HICCSL) and others by police in Odisha, Bihar and Rajasthan, apart from more than 500 such complaints filed against Sahara Group entities and related persons, have been analysed by the ED.

The agency alleged that the Sahara Group was running a “Ponzi” scheme through various entities, such as HICCSL, Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited (SCCSL), Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Cooperative Society (SUMCS), Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (SMCSL), Sahara India Commercial Corporation Limited (SICCL), Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited (SIRECL), Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Limited (SHICL) and other group entities.

“The group has cheated the depositors and agents by alluring them with high returns and commissions respectively, and utilised the funds collected in a non-regulated manner without any information or control of the depositors,” the ED said.