India

Palghar, Oct 3 (IANS) In a double tragedy on Navratri, a 35-year-old man collapsed and died while playing 'garba' at a marquee in Virar town here, and upon hearing of the incident, his father also died due to the shock, officials said.

The incident happened late on Saturday night when Manish Narpat Sonigra was playing garba at the Global City housing complex in Evershine Nagar and suddenly crashed on the ground.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital but declared dead on arrival late that night, said a relative.

Upon learning this, his stunned father Narpat Harakchand Sonigra, 66, also collapsed the breathed his last, plunging the entire locality into gloom.

Narpat Sonigra's son Rahul and brother Nagraj Harakchand Sonigra said that the family hailed from Marudhar in Rajasthan and belonged to the Godwad Oswal Jain community.

The funeral rites of the deceased father-son duo were performed in Virar town on Sunday evening, while the police have lodged an accidental death report case in the matter.

--IANS
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Mysuru, Oct 3 (IANS) Congress President Sonia Gandhi and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi are likely to join the Rahul Gandhi led - Bharat Jodo yatra, which entered day four in the southern district of Karnataka on Monday.

According to sources, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are scheduled to reach Mysuru city at noon and proceed to Mandakalli airport in Mysuru by a special flight.

Both the leaders would visit the Chamundeshwari hills and seek the Goddess's blessings. Later, they would leave by helicopter for hill station Kodagu where they will rest for a couple of days.

Rahul Gandhi will also join them in Kodagu and spend some time with them there. Against the backdrop of the Vijaya Dashami (Navratri) festivities in Karnataka, the Bharat Jodo Yatra will be halted for two days --Tuesday and Wednesday.

Party leaders say that Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi would take part in padayatra when it resumes on October 6. Priyank Kharge, Congress MLA and chairman of KPCC Media Cell stated that Priyanka Gandhi would take part in the padayatra on Thursday in Melukote town in Mandya district.

He further stated that if health permits, Sonia Gandhi would also join the padayatra on that day.

Senior party leader A.S. Ponnanna has been given responsibility of monitoring the visit for top Congress leaders. Gandhis would stay at the Coorg Wilderness Resort in Megeri village of Madikeri taluk. The CRPF personnel are providing security for the resort.

After covering Chamarajanagar and Mysuru districts, the yatra entered Mandya district this morning.

Rahul Gandhi visited Ajam Mosque with local Congress MLA Tanveer Sait and also paid a visit to the historical Saint Philomena's Church.

On Monday, Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "After the downpour of last night created iconic images, day 26 of Bharat Jodo Yatra started at 6.30 am from the heart of historic Mysuru."

Rahul Gandhi and padayatris will be walking 22 kilometers at a fast clip today (Monday) to reach the end point 3 hours before the usual schedule of 4.30 p.m."

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) The central election authority (CEA) of the Congress has issued guidelines to all the state presidents to extend courtesy to both Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge who are contesting for the party presidential poll.

The guidelines says that Pradesh Returning Officer (PRO) will be the Polling Officer of their respective PCCs and shall be responsible for keeping order at the polling stations and to see that the election is fairly conducted.

"Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and Dr. Shashi Tharoor are contesting the election of Congress President in their personal capacity. Therefore, delegates are free to elect any one of them, as per their choice, through Ballot Paper.

"All the office-bearers are asked to resign first if they want to campaign. AICC General Secretaries/ In-charges, Secretaries/ Jt Secretaries, PCC Presidents, CLP Leaders, Heads of Frontal Org., Chiefs of Depts./Cells and all official Spokesperson shall not campaign for or against contesting candidates. If they wish to support any candidate they must first resign from their organisational post, after that they participate in the campaign process," said the guidelines.

CEA chairman Madhusudan Mistry has said that all the state presidents shall extend courtesy to the candidates during their visits to the respective states and arrange meeting hall, chairs and other equipment for the public announcement to the candidate who wishes to hold the meeting of the delegates.

"However, no such meeting can be called by the PCC Presidents in their personal capacity. Organising the meeting is the task of the proposer or the supporters of the contesting candidates."

As per the guidelines during the election "no candidate shall use a vehicle bringing the voters nor resort to any undesired pamphlet, any other kind of publication propaganda. Violation of these procedures shall render the candidates' election invalid and make them liable for disciplinary action".

It said, "Utmost care must be taken to ensure that there is no mala fide campaign against any candidate. The same would bring disgrace to the party. The sensitivity of the election process must be upheld at any cost."

--IANS
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Srinagar, Oct 3 (IANS) A soldier was found dead on Monday with a gunshot wound in J&K's Baramulla district.

Police sources said that an army soldier, identified as Rahul Bhagat, son of Anand Bhagat of Maharashtra, was found dead in a pool of blood with gunshot wound in his chest inside a camp in the Boniyar area of Uri tehsil.

"The body has been taken into custody for autopsy after an FIR was registered in the incident," sources said, adding that investigation was going on to find out the details of the soldier's death.

--IANS
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By Vishal Gulati
Bilaspur (Himachal Pradesh), Oct 3 (IANS) BJP National President J.P. Nadda's ambitious project of commissioning AIIMS Bilaspur, a premier hospital, in his political battleground, whose foundation stone was laid exactly five years ago, is all set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday just days ahead of the state Assembly polls.



Modi will also be the first Prime Minister to attend Dussehra festivities in Kullu town on the same day, where a grand congregation of over 200 Gods and Goddesses annually assemble for the week-long celebrations.

Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Nadda reached Bilaspur, located 130 km from the Himachal Pradesh capital, on Sunday to oversee the arrangements relating to Modi's visit to inaugurate AIIMS at Kothipura in Bilaspur district and later his address with a gathering of estimated one lakh people that is aiming to set the stage to build momentum for the upcoming Assembly polls.

The BJP-ruled hill state is likely to go to the polls for its 68-member Assembly in November.

"We are expecting a gathering of over one lakh people from across the state at the Luhnu ground. The public meeting will be held after the inauguration of AIIMS Bilaspur," BJP spokesperson Karan Nanda told IANS.

Earlier, the rain washed the election rally of Modi in Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur's home turf Mandi on September 24.

The devotional fervour will reach a crescendo when the Prime Minister will attend a centuries-old unique Kullu Dussehra festivity that begins on Vijaya Dashami, the day when the festivities end in the rest of the country.

"Modi-ji will be the first Prime Minister to attend the Kullu Dussehra festival after concluding his public address in Bilaspur," Nanda added.

Going by the legend, Lord Raghunath's chariot is wheeled out by the tens of thousands of devotees from his historical temple in Sultanpur in Kullu on the first day of Dussehra amid chants of "Jai Raghunath" and the sounding of trumpets and drums.

The festival dates to 1637, when Raja Jagat Singh ruled Kullu.

Modi is also expected to participate in the pulling of the chariot of Lord Raghunath, officials said.

The assembled deities follow the chariot in a ceremonial procession by the servitors.

Officials told IANS the 750-bed AIIMS is set up with an outlay of Rs 1,350 crore with facility for a medical college with an intake capacity of 100 seats and a nursing college with 60 seats.

Modi laid the foundation of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bilaspur on October 3, 2017, with a deadline to be completed by December 2021.

AIIMS at Bilaspur is another milestone in the list of achievements of the National Democratic Alliance government in the health sector, former Union health minister Nadda has said.

It will provide the much-needed tertiary medical services to a vast population of those not only in Himachal Pradesh but other northern states also.

With his campaign, the Prime Minister will try to drive the aModi charisma' in the state and retain the power in assembly polls.

Nadda, along with Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, inspected the ongoing construction work at AIIMS on several occasions.

In one of his visits, Nadda expressed satisfaction that despite the Covid-19 crisis, the construction work was going on smoothly.

Thanking Prime Minister Modi and Nadda for approving the setting up of AIIMS in Himachal Pradesh and making adequate budgetary provision for its construction, Chief Minister Thakur said the state has released Rs 73 crore for providing power and Rs 65 crore for water supply to the hospital.

Other than AIIMS, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate the Hydro Engineering College at Bandla in Bilaspur and lay foundation stones for a Medical Devices Park in Nalagarh and a four-lane project from Pinjore to Nalagarh.

In the 2019 parliamentary elections, Nadda played an important role in his home state Himachal and helped the party retain all the four seats.

Nadda won his first Assembly election from Bilaspur (Sadar) in Himachal in 1993. In 1998, he again won from that seat and became the state health minister.

He lost the assembly elections in 2003, but again won in 2007 and was appointed the forest minister.

Born December 2, 1960, Nadda did his graduation from Patna in Bihar and holds a postgraduate degree in political science and LL.B. from Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla.

Starting his political career in 1978 as a student leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students' wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Nadda had also worked both with Nitin Gadkari and Amit Shah even in the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha -- from 1991 to 1994.

His wife Mallika Nadda, who was previously teaching history in the Himachal Pradesh University, also was an ABVP activist, and its national general secretary from 1988 to 1999.

A low-profile leader with astute organisational skills, Nadda was forced to resign as state forest minister in 2010 owing to differences between him and then chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.

At that time he joined the BJP president Nitin Gadkari's team and was made the party's national general secretary. On his departure he had told reporters that he was "leaving the state politics with a heavy heart".

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) Shashi Tharoor, a candidate for Congress presidential poll on Monday said that there were no ideological differences between him and Mallikarjun Kharge, who is also in the fray.

"Let me make clear that I agree with @kharge ji that all of us in @incIndia wish to take on the BJP rather than each other. There is no ideological difference between us. The choice for our voting colleagues Oct17 is only on how to do it most effectively," he said.

He was responding to Kharge's statement that debate should be with the BJP, RSS and not amongst the Congressmen.

Kharge is facing Shashi Tharoor, who has begun his campaign for the party polls. Tharoor said on Saturday that he failed to understand as to why the G-23 leaders, who earlier talked about polls in the party, were now backing off and talking about general consensus.

It's going to be Mallikarjun Kharge versus Shashi Tharoor in the Congress Presidential polls scheduled on October 17. Kharge has got the support of not only the senior leadership of the party, but the G-23 leaders as well.

Talking exclusively to IANS, Tharoor said that the polls for the post of Congress president are being held after five years. The last election was held in 2017, which Rahul Gandhi had won unanimously. The last contested election was held in 2000, when Sonia Gandhi defeated Jitendra Prasada by a huge margin.

The Gandhi family has decided that it will not endorse any candidate this time. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi both are of the view that polls will strengthen the party, which is very good, Tharoor said.

--IANS
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Bhadohi (UP), Oct 3 The death toll in the Durga Puja pandal fire in Bhadohi district has gone up to five, an official said on Monday.

A 12-year-old boy was killed and at least 52 people were injured after a fire broke out at a Durga Puja pandal in Aurai town of Bhadohi district, late on Sunday night.

The deceased have been identified as Ankush Soni (12), Jaya Devi (45), Naveen (10), Aarti Chaubey (48) and Harshvardhan.

A total of 67 people were injured in the incident of which the condition of three is stated to be critical.

Bhadohi district magistrate Gaurang Rathi said prima facie, a short circuit appeared to be cause of the fire.

The incident took place in a pandal near Aurai Police station.

"An incident took place at the time of 'aarti' (prayers), which was the peak time. There were around 150 people inside the pandal. Over 30 people suffered burn injuries after which some were rushed to Surya Trauma Centre, Community Health Centre, Gopiganj and Anand hospital," the official said.

The district magistrate further said, "While a short circuit appears to be the main cause of the fire, we are waiting a confirmation from our technical team, which is investigating the case."

Those who suffered severe burn injuries and were taken to Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Trauma Centre in Varanasi.

Varanasi police commissioner Satish Ganesh said, "Soon after getting information that the victims are being brought to BHU Trauma centre, we created a Green Corridor to ensure hassle-free transportation of the victims."

--IANS
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Srinagar, Oct 3 (IANS) A Kashmiri journalist was arrested by the J&K Police after he was accused of rape, extortion and trafficking.

Police said that a local journalist operating in south Kashmir's Anantnag district, Nadeem Nadu was arrested for interrogation after he was accused by a university teacher of rape, extortion, intimidation and trafficking.

Police said that a special investigation team (SIT) has been set up to probe the charges and also to go into the conduct of some officials named by the complainant in her FIR.

Nadeem was working for a local English daily and a local news agency.

Police press statement said that self-proclaimed journalist Nadeem Ahmed Ganie alias Nadeem Nadu of Anantnag has been arrested in a rape case.

"The complainant said that he had forced her into sexual relationship after she was deceived and drugged inside a house near Shalimar in Srinagar in July 2020.

"The victim also alleged that the accused took her objectionable pictures after sedating her and used these to blackmail her into forced sexual act many times.

"The victim was a student in an institution in central Kashmir at the time of the occurrence of this crime.

"Because of the heinous nature of the crime an SIT was set up.

"The victim has said that she was forced to have sex with some officer friends of the accused," police statement said.

--IANS
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Lucknow, Oct 3 (IANS) A man and three delivery agents scammed an e-commerce website of Rs 50 lakh in the state capital.

The police have now arrested Sachin Tiwari, mastermind of the gang and his aides Shubham Yadav and Vikas Yadav, Dharamveer Yadav, Ravindra Kumar Yadav and Abhishek Dubey.

The scam surfaced during an internal audit of the company at its Lucknow-based office when bookings of electronic gadgets on fake addresses were found to be stolen between September 23 and September 26.

The delivery on these fake addresses was done by the same agents. Later, an FIR was lodged and investigations got underway.

Ravindra, Shubham and Dharmveer worked as delivery agents with a company assigned with goods' delivery work and they helped Sachin and others in executing the theft.

The police recovered 43 Apple mobile phone sets, seven tablets, one I-pad, 25 USB cables, two bundles of tapes of an online shopping company and other items which they used in opening and repackaging boxes.

Ashutosh Kumar, assistant commissioner of police, said, "Ravindra, Shubham and Dharamveer, in connivance with Sachin, placed orders for electronic gadgets while referring to addresses of their choice. Since they worked as delivery agents, they knew well in advance about the arrival of goods."

He said that after receiving the goods the miscreants used to take out items from boxes, replacing them with clay.

Then they repackaged the boxes in their original shape and later the miscreants returned the boxes to the warehouse, mentioning that addresses of customers were untraceable and finally the boxes were returned to the online shopping company.

The online shopping company wrote to the firm engaged in goods' delivery in Lucknow to probe who is replacing items in the boxes with clay, the police said.

The Lucknow-based company conducted a probe and finally the cluster manager lodged an FIR against Ravindra, Shubham and Dharamveer and their leader Sachin.

--IANS
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Ayodhya, Oct 3 (IANS) The Ayodhya police in Uttar Pradesh have arrested a Popular Front of India (PFI) activist.

The police, in the FIR, has accused the man of being involved in anti-national activities, including provoking Muslims against Hindus and targeting members of Hindu community through terror activities.

The arrested accused Mohd Zaid is said to be the active member of Tabligi Jamaat of Markaz Nizamuddin and an alumnus of famous Islamic seminary Nadwa.

However, Mohd Haneef, who is Ayodhya's Ameer of Tabligi Jamaat and the father of accused Mohd Zaid claimed that the local police had arrested his son on September 29 from his house in Purani Sabzi Mandi area and had kept him in illegal detention for four days.

According to the police, Zaid has been involved in PFI events organised in Kerala.

Zaid's relationships with the organisation's top leaders have also been reported.

This was the second arrest of an alleged PFI activist from Ayodhya.

Four days back an alleged PFI activist Akram was arrested from Bikapur police station area last week. Police said that the information about Zaid was revealed during interrogation of Akram.

Together they were conducting the activities of PFI in Ayodhya, police said.

--IANS
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