Regional

The arrested individual has been identified as Bharat Soni, a resident of Ujjain.

Earlier on Thursday, Ujjain SP Sachin Sharma said that a total of five suspects were detained for questioning.

One of them was detained on Wednesday, while four were detained on Thursday.

Sharma said that the victim hails from Satna district.

Meanwhile, the main accused who had been apprehended, tried to escape from police custody and collided with a cemented wall following which he was admitted to a government hospital, police Inspector Ajay Kumar said.

Interacting with the press, the police officer said when the accused was taken to the crime spot, he tried to escape.

"He (accused) ran away from the spot. However, the police personnel chased him. In the mean time, he collided with a cemented wall and got injured," Kumar said.

He further said one of the cops chasing the accused also got injuries but eventually, the accused was overpowered.

When asked if the accused sustained injury due to police firing, Kumar denied, saying: "He collided with a cemented wall."

"Victim's family has lodged a missing complaint on September 24. The girl has traveled from Satna to Ujjain," SP Sharma said.

The incident has sparked a political controversy in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

The opposition Congress has questioned the law and order situation under the BJP government in the state.

AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, who is leading the Congress' campaign in the poll-bound state of MP, slammed the BJP government for the incident.

--IANS

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Besides Rao and his son, former BRS lawmaker Vemula Veeresham also joined the Congress.

Kharge, inducted the BRS leaders in presence of Telangana Congress unit chief A Revanth Reddy here at his residence, 10 Rajaji Marg.

The Congress has been campaigning aggressively come to power in the southern state, which has been ruled by the BRS (earlier TRS) since it came to existence in 2014.

--IANS

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More than four months after commencing the work on its first project at Kakatiya Mega Textile Park (KMTP) in Warangal, it laid the foundation stone for the second cluster at Seetharampur in Rangareddy district near Hyderabad.

Kitex, which is the second-largest manufacturer of infant wear in the world, is setting up this cluster with a capacity of seven lakh garments per day.

The company thus intends to create a Guinness record. The plant will come up on 250 acres with an investment of Rs 1,200 crore. It will employ more than 11,000 people directly, more than 80 per cent of which will be women employees.

The entire investment will be operational by December 2024.

Minister for industries KT Rama Rao along with his ministerial colleagues P Sabitha Indra Reddy and P Mahender Reddy participated in the ground-breaking ceremony.

Kitex’s first investment project in Telangana is coming up at Kakatiya Mega Textile Park, Warangal where construction of a similar sized integrated fibre-to-apparel manufacturing cluster is ongoing in full swing and expected to commence operations by December 2023.

The company is investing Rs.1,600 crore in the Warangal plant. The cluster, spread over 200 acres, will employ more than 15,000 people directly, more than 80 per cent of which will be women employees. Kerala-based Kitex signed MoU with Telangana government in 2021 to invest Rs.2,406 crore in the state. --IANS

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She will be here for two days to investigate the matter.

Speaking to reporters, Sundar said that she would meet the students involved, police personnel and college authorities in connection with the case, and understand it.

"I am here to investigate the problems faced by the students and get to the bottom of this shocking incident," she said.

The police in Karnataka have lodged an FIR against three Muslim girls of a college here for allegedly filming Hindu female students while they were using the restrooms.

Minister for Women and Child Welfare Laxmi Hebbalkar, who is also in-charge minister of Udupi district, said on Wednesday that the police have registered an FIR in connection with the case.

"I have instructed the district Superintendent of Police to initiate action as per the provisions of law,"she said.

Hebbalkar further stated that strict action would be initiated against the accused individuals.

"No one is above the law," she said.

--IANS

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The opposition BJP and Hindu groups in the southern state have criticised the police for "harassing the activist instead of initiating action against the Muslim girls who recorded the objectionable videos".

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Basanagouda Patil Yatnal on Tuesday sought to know "if the police were sent to the residence of the woman activist to instill fear?"

"In democracy, police harassment is given for speaking the truth, Udupi police, what is happening? DGP and IGP should initiate action against the district superintendent of police. If he wants to pursue politics, let him tender resignation and join politics," Yatnal said.

Rashmi Samanth, the woman activist, reacting on the incident, posted on social media: "I'm from Udupi and nobody is talking about Alimatul Shafia, Shabanaz and Aliya who placed cameras in female toilets of their college to record hundreds of unsuspecting Hindu girls. Videos and photos were then circulated in community WhatsApp groups by the perpetrators."

The post has gone viral and triggered a debate in the communally sensitive coastal Karnataka region.

The police have been accused of entering her house in the night on Monday and repeatedly questioning and torturing her family members.

Adhitya Srinivasan, counsel for Samanth, said: "At around 8 p.m. on Monday, a group of policemen visited the residence of Rashmi Samanth. As she was not at home at the time, it was her parents who were questioned by the police and repeatedly asked about Rashmi's whereabouts."

Yashpal Suvarna, a BJP legislator from Udupi, said: "I don't know whether there is a video clipping or not, action must be initiated after taking suo moto case. The act of police going to Rashmi Samanth's residence and torturing her family can’t be tolerated."

Meanwhile, Udupi SP Hakay Akshay Machchindra clarified that since Rashmi Samanth had tweeted about the incident, her account had been inspected and the police spoke to her family members in this connection.

The incident of the three female students of a college belonging to a minority community being suspended for recording videos of Hindu girls in college restrooms was reported last week.

The incident took a communal turn with allegations surfacing on girls belonging to the minority religion recording the personal videos in restrooms and sending them to male students.

It was also alleged that these male students, also belonging to the minority community, would go on to make the videos viral on the social media.

According to sources, some Hindu girls also questioned the accused female students in the campus leading to arguments and confrontation.

--IANS

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Party State Organizing Secretary B.T. Naganna, who participated in the protest meeting organised by the Aam Aadmi Party's women's wing, demanded resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to reign in the situation in Manipur.

Speaking to the reporters, she stated instead of suppressing the class conflicts in the strife-torn state, the Centre is encouraging violence for the sake of vote bank politics. Even though the Home Minister was on a five-day visit to the state, the violence could not be brought to an end.

Two months ago, the miscreants who stripped, raped and paraded women, are yet to punished.

"The Centre's strategy to cover up the incident is shameful. Suspending our party's MP Sanjay Singh for the entire term without discussing it in both the Houses of Parliament was an 'anti-democratic' and 'anti-constitutional' move. Today, world guru Narendra Modi, who has put India to shame in front of the world, should immediately apologise to the people of the nation and resign," Naganna demanded.

President of the Women's Unit, Kushala Swamy said that women are not safe in the country. The BJP central government, which is protecting the despicable people who sexually assaulted women, needs to be removed from the country.

"If you look at the support that MP Brij Bhushan got in the recent rape accusation by a wrestler, it is a tragedy that the central government, which is only protecting the corrupt, is now engaged in protecting the rapists as well.

"The true colours of the BJP which pretend to worship Mother India and protect the culture are exposed now. The people of the country will teach them a proper lesson in the coming days", she said.

Senior party leader Vijay Sharma, media spokesperson Usha Mohan, Prakash Nadungadi, Sushma Veera, Hariharan, Gopal, Mahadevaswamy, Farid, Feroze Khan, Jyotish Kumar, Maria, Mahalakshmi, Suhasini Paniraj, Pushpa Keshav and many other women leaders and activists participated in the protest.

--IANS

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The state government has sanctioned the allotment of 2.45 lakh square meters of land for the establishment of the GIDC estate in Mudetha, Deesa taluka.

GIDC, a key player since 1962, has already established 239 industrial townships encompassing an 41,000-hectare land, housing over 70,000 plots, and accommodating more than 50,000 industrial units.

In October last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had virtually initiated the groundbreaking ceremony for multiple industrial parks, including four Tribal Industrial Parks in Valia (Bharuch), Amirgadh (Banaskantha), Chakaliya (Dahod), and Vanar (Chhota Udaipur).

Alongside these, the ambitious project also includes the Agro Food Park at Mudetha (Banaskantha), Sea Food Park at Kakwadi Danti (Valsad), and MSME Park at Khandivav (Mahisagar).

--IANS

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The court, while contemplating contempt charges, granted them until August 9 to demonstrate tangible action and results in enforcing traffic and parking laws.

The rebuke came after a tragic accident on SG Highway, where a speeding car killed nine people and injured 13 others.

The court cited the police's failure to penalise offenders as the reason behind rampant lawlessness. The ongoing litigation on traffic regulation and management for five years further fueled the court's ire.

The bench emphasised that lawbreakers must fear consequences, urging regular and voluntary enforcement of laws.

"E-challans and cameras alone won't suffice... wrong-side driving demand stricter measures," the court said, expressing frustration at the state's inaction and reluctance to implement traffic laws, and threatening to initiate action for filing false affidavits.

As lawyers representing the authorities urged more time to demonstrate results, the court emphasised enforcing the law and training officers to curb violations and set August 9 as the deadline.

--IANS

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Three Muslim female students were accused of allegedly recording the videos of Hindu girls in a college restroom.

Hakay Akshay Machchindra, Udupi Superintendent of Police (SP), speaking to the media on Tuesday, requested the people not to believe fake news in this connection.

"Rumours should not be spread to create confusion among people. If any documents or evidence are available, hand it over to the police and cooperate with the police department," he appealed.

"There are no clues available in this connection to lodge a suo moto case in the interest of the society. There are no photos and videos available in the mobiles of the alleged girls. They have been inquired as per the rules of the college. The girls have claimed that they have done it for fun," he said.

Machchindra said that the matter was circulated on social media and news. "It is being spread with ulterior motives. Use of hidden cameras in the incident has not come to our knowledge during the investigation. We are focusing on videos being circulated for blackmailing. It is wrong to simply forward messages without knowing the truth. Facebook and WhatsApp are being monitored for viral posts in this regard."

Yashpal Suvarna, BJP MLA from Udupi has demanded action against the girls who are guilty in this case. "The Udupi district is academically well known and women are respected here. The acts of these girls have forced the people of the district to bow down their heads in shame. The whole district is insulted due to this act."

He further said, "Fun in these matters is not acceptable. There is a role of invisible hands behind this act. I am suspicious about the incident. The placing of cameras in the toilet is not acceptable. I demand action against three girls and the matter will be brought to the notice of the CM and the Home Minister," he said.

"The government will issue an externment order for those who work in Hindu organisations. But, they are not saying a word about the incident. I urge the police to gather evidence from mobile phones and initiate action," BJP Yashpal Suvarna stated.

The incident of the three college female students belonging to minority religion being suspended for recording videos of Hindu girls in college restrooms was reported last week.

The case took a communal turn with allegations surfacing that the Muslim girls recorded the personal videos in restrooms and sent them to male students. It was also alleged that these male students also belong to the minority community, who would make the videos viral on social media.

Sources stated that the Hindu girls questioned the accused in the campus leading to arguments and confrontation. The Hindu activists also rushed to the college and demanded action.

Rachan Saliyan, District President of SarvaCollege Vidyarthi Shakti organisation had submitted a written memorandum in this regard to SP Machchindra.

"Even as the complaint is submitted to the principal over recording of videos while using restrooms and spreading them after the protest, the college management had hushed up the case after getting apology letters from the students. I urge you to seize the mobiles of students and initiate action," he had stated.

--IANS

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The senior CPI leader said that the BJP speaks highly of the double-engine governments across the country however the same double-engine government is responsible for the violence in Manipur.

He said that there was an apprehension on BJP aligning with corporate sector to plunder the natural resources of Manipur and hence it has instigated the violence.

“There are apprehensions that corporate sector is being planned to plunder the natural resources of Manipur and the name of Gautam Adani is also surfacing in these allegations,” Raja said while talking to media persons at the CPI headquarters in Chennai.

Raja said that the violence in Manipur was against humanity and blamed the double engine government for it.

He said that the Prime Minister has never condemned the Manipur incident where women were paraded naked and raped.

The CPI leader said that the Prime Minister spoke generally about the law and order situation in Manipur.

He that the motto of opposition parties in the country was ‘BJP hatao, Desh Bachao’ and added that the aim of the opposition parties in the Lok Sabha elections of 2024 would be to oust the BJP from power and to ‘Save India’.

--IANS

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