Author: Samikhsya Bureau

Bulandshahr, Jan 10 (UNI) Shikhar Agarwal, BJP Yuva Morcha leader and one of the prime accused in the Bulandshahr violence, was arrested from Hapur in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.

Police sources here said that Shikhar, also one of the accused in the killing of Police Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, the SHO of Sainaya police station, was arrested from Hapur.

On December 3, violence erupted in Bulandshahr which resulted in the murder of Subodh Singh and a youth named Sumit Kumar.

According to police, Agarwal was allegedly involved in instigating the mob which went on the rampage on December 3 killing the police officer and setting on fire a police post and a number of vehicles.

The police took more than a month to arrest Agarwal though he kept on uploading his videos on social media claiming innocence in the whole incident. He also gave interviews to several TV channels while in hiding.

Saiyana Police Station had registered an FIR against 27 named people and 50 to 60 unidentified people for the violence.

Local Bajrang Dal leader Yogesh Raj, also a key suspect in the case, was arrested by the police on January 3. The police said that over 35 people have been arrested so far in connection with the case, including Army jawan Jeetender Malik, Prashant Nat who allegedly shot the inspector dead and Kalua who had attacked him with an axe.

Darjeeling, Jan 10 (UNI) The Indian Army rescued more than 150 tourists, who were left trapped due to heavy snowfall in the northern part of Sikkim, Lachung, exactly 10 days after the Indian soldiers saved nearly 3000 tourists from Nathula, Tsango and elsewhere.
Lachung, a 2700 mt high mountain village of Bhutia and Tibetans, close to China border, is located at a distance of more than 100 km north of Sikkim capital Gangtok. On Wednesday afternoon, the famous tourist destination suddenly received extremely heavy snowfall and the temperature in the region slid to sub-zero level, stranding around 150 tourists.
Officials sources, who oversaw the rescue operation said that in a span of two hours Lachung valley was completely cut off. The tourists, who did not have adequate logistical support of their own to survive in the extreme weather condition were in peril and needed immediate help.
However, the troops of Trishakti Corps immediately swung into action and launched ” Quick Reaction Teams” along with its medical staff, to locate the tourists in stranded vehicles.
After detecting them, the Army first provided them medical care and transported them to the nearest army camps.
“In just four hours, the soldiers risking their lives, reached out to all the stranded travelers and took them to their camps/ barracks and saved their lives,” the official added.
“One lady with fractured hand was given immediate medical care amongst many others who complained of dizziness, breathlessness and other high altitude related symptoms,” the officials informed.
All the rescued tourists were provided, food, shelter and medical care at the army camps keeping in view the continuous snowfall and temperatures dipping to minus 10 degrees.
As per army sources, the rescue operations continued through the night to locate any other tourist in the area.
On 28 December 2018, Indian Army had evacuated over 3000 stranded tourists from Natula area in the biggest ever rescue operation carried out in Sikkim.
In fact. the social media is still flooded with messages of the rescued tourists, expressing their gratitude to the Indian Army soldiers who vacated their barracks and provided them with food, shelter and medical care.
North Sikkim Superintendent of Police K. D. Shangdarpa, along with SDM of the area and SDPO were at the spot to help the Indian Army at the spot stranded tourists.
In a message Sikkim Police said,”At least 50 (tourists)have been given accommodation by 3rd Sikh regiment camp at Dogra above Lachung and all are safe. Only the vehicles are stuck, which will be brought down tomorrow morning (Thursday) after clearing the road.
“Of the 50 people staying in army camp, those desiring to return to their hotels in Lachung are also being brought down to Lachung in Army vehicles fitted with snow chains.”
The message said the road will open between Lachung to Chungthang, once snow melts.
The tourists are mostly from the plains.

Johannesburg, Jan 10 (UNI) South African all-rounder Albie Morkel has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, bringing down curtain to his nearly 20-year of professional cricketing career.

Announcing his retirement from the game on Wednesday, Morkel in a press statement said, “Time has run out for me on the cricket field, and I would like to announce my retirement from the game.” He further stated, “The last 20 years of my life took me on an incredible journey, with so many awesome memories that I will cherish forever.”

He also took to twitter to express his feelings, “That’s the end for me and what a journey it’s been! Plenty of memories good and bad, but I was blessed with a very long career. Thanks @Titans_Cricket @OfficialCSA, will enjoy the game now from the other side.”

Morkel has represented South Africa in 58 One Day Internationls (ODIs), 50 T20Is and one Test, in which he amassed overall 1,412 runs and took 77 wickets.

Indian Premier League (IPL) francise Chennai Super Kings also thanked the Protease cricketer for his contribution to the team.

They twitted, “Yellow Thanks! Your contributions with the last over smashes and the early wickets will All-Be Missed! #Endrum28″

” I want to say a big thanks to Cricket South Africa, because it was a huge honour to represent my country. Thank you to my family, friends, supporters and sponsors who were there for me through thick and thin, and most importantly my wife who played an unbelievable supporting role, allowing me to do what I love,” cricket South Africa official website quoted him as saying.

“Professional sport can be a ruthless space to operate in, and it’s impossible to do it without a solid support system. Thank you so much,” he added.

Titans, a cricket franchise in South Africa, chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Jacques Faul declared that a farewell match will soon be organised for the all-rounder. He said, “He deserves a send-off, and also a chance for the Titans fans to say a fond farewell. It wasn’t just for Titans that he was a massive player because he also served the Proteas with distinction.”

“He was one of the most destructive cricketers in domestic T20 cricket, and he will be really missed. We wish him all the best in his new ventures,” Faul concluded.

Morkel after announcing his decision also thanked the Titans’ CEO adding that he will forever remain a huge Titans fan.

Talking about his future, Morkel said, “Cricket has prepared me well for life after. There are some new opportunities on the horizon, and I’m looking forward to grow into those. I will be enjoying the game from the other side of the rope.”

Mumbai, Jan 10 (UNI) The benchmark index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday opened higher by 46 points at 36,258.00 as fresh buying was seen in FMCG, Health care, IT , Bankex, Consumer durables

and Auto stocks.

The Nifty of National Stock Exchange (NSE) too moved up by 4 points to 10,859.35.

The sensex registered intra day high and low at 36,269.31 and 36,127.33 respectively.

The Nifty recorded intra day high and low at 10,859.35 and 10,825.35 points respectively.

The gainers were Tata Motors by 1.83 pc to Rs 186.45, Tata Motors DVR by 1.29 pc to Rs 98.20, NTPC by 1.09 pc to Rs 147.75, Bajaj Auto by 0.86 pc to Rs 2718.75 and Hind Unilever by 0.82 pc to Rs 1797.90.

The losers were IndusInd Bank by 2.24 pc to Rs 1564.90, HDFC by 1.02 pc to Rs 1973, Axis Bank by 0.90 pc to Rs 664 and ICICI Bank by 0.77 pc to Rs 379.05.

New Delhi, Jan 10 (UNI) India has witnessed a 457 per cent rise in cyber crime incidents under the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 from the year of 2011 to 2016, a recent ASSOCHAM-NEC joint study said.

Between 2012-17, the number of internet users grew at a CAGR of 44 per cent which has led India to be placed third in terms of number of internet users in the world after the US and China.

Symantec Corp ranked India among top five countries to be affected by cyber crime, noted the study titled ‘Digital Policing-Smart Policing for Public Safety,’ conducted by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) jointly with NEC.

To establish a robust three tired structure comprising Central Cyber Cell, District Cyber Cells and Police Station Cyber Teams across the entire jurisdiction of National Capital Territory to deal with cyber-crimes and to handle the growing menace of cyber frauds and online harassment, highlighted the study.

Using latest technologies like artificial intelligence, big data analytics, facial recognition and IoT to identify and catch suspects/criminals, has gained much awareness among various law enforcement agencies. However, the implementation of these technologies is not on a national level but on a state level, which makes it very important for the central government to fund and support state level law enforcement agencies to utilize technologies to upgrade their policing methods, noted the joint study.

The Union Government and multiple law enforcement agencies have taken lead in curbing growing cyber crime. In addition to establishing cyber labs and training the officers, additional development in terms of detecting and resolving cyber crime has to be added in the current arsenal of the law enforcers.

Implementing new policing technologies will enable access to personal information, assisting in the delivery of personalized and better public services. It will help in fighting crime, protecting public security, reducing burden on businesses and citizens and tackling social exclusion through early intervention, noted the study.

Crime has been transforming itself to match the technological development happening across the globe. Since the invention of computers & internet, crime has evolved from its physical version to a digital one. Introduction of IT Act in India in 2000, amended in 2008, was the turning point where the government stated focusing on digital side of crimes Cyber Crime.

To prevent cyber crimes through the development of a cyber threat resilient ecosystem in the state and to defend against cyber attacks by synergizing with other departments and nodal agencies of the State. Link up with multiple national and international cyber security & the law enforcement agencies to fight against the borderless nature of the cyber crimes.

Indian Police has been constantly fighting cyber crime and has taken up multiple initiatives such as cyber crime labs, response centers and cyber forensic labs to do the same.

To counter it, state government and state police are constantly developing new anti-cyber crime measures with the help of central government and private organizations. Other than these initiatives, training and development of Police officers in the field of identifying and solving cyber crimes has been made imperative to keep police updated about latest criminal activities and the methods required to tackle it.

Srinagar, Jan 10 (UNI) Dozens of far flung and remote villages, including those near the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir remained cut off on Thursday since Saturday following accumulation of several feet of snow which has now frozen due to which roads have become slippery.
However, traffic was plying between Kupwara to border towns of Keran and Tanghdar though there is forecast for heavy to very snowfall during the next 48 hours in the Kashmir valley, official sources told UNI.
They said dozens of villages, including near the LoC, were cut off with their respective district and Tehsil headquarters following accumulation of snow and slippery road conditions since Saturday.
The border areas of Karnah and Machil and other far flung and remote villages were cut off with district headquarter Kupwara due to snow, they said. A fresh Western Disturbance (WD) is approaching the region which could result in heavy to very heavy snowfall from this evening till January 13.

The Razdan top, connecting dozens of border areas, including Gurez, which is surrounded by Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) from three sides, with district headquarter Bandipora remained closed due to about two feet of snowfall on Wednesday, they added.
Majority of these roads remained closed for six winter months due to heavy snowfall.

Mumbai, Jan 10 (UNI) The Rupee on Thursday opened flat at 70.46 on fresh selling of US Dollars by bankers and exporters, dealers at Forex Market said.
Weak dollar against major global currencies overseas and a positive opening in stock market pushed the equity market up, they added.
The local unit recorded intra day high and low at 70.62 and 70.32 respectively.

Mumbai, Jan 10 (UNI) Following were the indicative currency rates and travellers’ cheques buying and selling rates per unit.

CURRENCY NAME -BUY- SALE
UAE DIRHAM -17.4496 -20.3907
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR -46.0051 -53.2316
BANGLADESH TAKA- 0.771521- 0.907988
BAHRAIN DINAR- 173.5417- 198.5548
CANADIAN DOLLAR- 48.5122- 56.5051
SWISS FRANC -65.6482- 77.1395
CHINESE YUAN- 7.31 -11.88
DANISH KRONE -9.8954- 11.5634
EURO -73.9159 -85.7282
STERLING POUND- 81.8025 -94.8802
HONG KONG DOLLAR- 8.1799- 9.6869
JAPANESE YEN -0.5919- 0.6864
KUWAITI DINAR -192.284- 239.4397
SRI LANKA RUPEE -0.355 -0.4175
MALAYSIAN RINGITT -15.2612 -18.7612
NORWEGIAN KRONE -7.5054 -8.8403
NEPALESE RUPEE -0.5749- 0.6251
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR -43.551 -51.1542
OMANI RIAL -169.814984- 194.529428
PAKISTAN RUPEE -0.4597 -0.5485
SAUDI RIAL -17.0483 -20.2027
SWEDISH KRONA- 7.1177- 8.3896
SINGAPORE DOLLAR -47.3584 -56.1042
THAI BAHT -2.0062 -2.3994
US DOLLAR -64.1186 -74.3459

Lucknow, Jan 10 (UNI) A garment trader was allegedly killed by unidentified assailants in the Alambagh area here, police sources said on Thursday.
According to the Superintendent of Police (East) Sarvesh Kumar, Amanpreet Singh (30) was closing his shop and preparing to leave for home in the Chandra Nagar market of the Alambagh area on late Wednesday night when he was shot at by unidentified miscreants.
The accused fled after the crime. Singh was rushed to the Lok Bandhu hospital, from where he was referred to the Trauma Center.
However, he succumbed to his injuries during treatment.
Personal enmity may be the motive behind the murder, the SP said.
A manhunt has been launched to nab the culprits. Further probe is on.

Agartala, Jan 10 (UNI) The firing incident on protestors opposing citizenship amendment bill three days ago in Madhav Bari area of Jirania in eastern part of Agartala, in which six people received bullet injuries, has irritated the tribal parties including youths’ and students’ wing.
Besides, social organization and tribal bodies, BJP’s partner in the government IPFT, opposition INPT, IPFT (Tipraha) and Tripura Indigenous Peoples Front (TIPF) raised their voice against the government and demanded high level judicial enquiry into the incident.
The opposition parties demanded Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb to relinquish the home portfolio, accepting the responsibility of the incident. They also criticized Deb for not showing sympathy to the victims and not making any statement over the incident.
The IPFT (Tipraha) leaders asked IPFT to pull out of the government as a protest against the unprovoked firing on protesters.
It also announced January 8 as the ‘black day’ and said that it will observe it every year as the bill was passed on the day in Lok Sabha.
While demanding high level enquiry into the firing incident former chief minister and leader of the opposition Manik Sarkar in a statement held BJP workers responsible for provoking the trouble. The police and TSR at the behest of BJP-IPFT government initially resorted to tear-gas firing and then opened firing which injured six people.
After the large-scale violence and police action on picketers of INPT and IPFT, who protested the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill-2016 under the banner of NESO, the situation in Jirania subdivision, especially in ADC headquarters and national highway are now normal.
A few social organizations have also asked for CBI probe into the incident.

New Delhi/Kolkata, Jan 10 (UNI) The intellectuals and the ‘mass moviegoers’ both in the National Capital as well as in Kolkata have opined that the release of the much-awaited film ”The Tashkent Files,” based on the death of second prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri under ‘mysterious circumstances,’ should have been preponed from February to January, ”infusing more topicality.”

A cross-section of film buffs in Delhi and the ‘Cultural Capital,’ ahead of the death anniversary of late Shastri, observed ‘in unison’ that the makers of the film have ‘missed the topical angle’ by fixing the release in February 2019, instead of January, the latter being the month of passing away of the former Prime Minister.
Fifty-three years ago, on this day, Shastri died at Tashkent in Russia in 1966, hours after signing of ‘The Tashkent Agreement’ with the then Pakistan president Ayub Khan.
Some media reports, however, suggested that Shastri had signed the deal with Khan on late January 10, 1966 and died the next day.
Informatively, ”The Tashkent Agreement” had ended the war between India and Pakistan in August-September of 1965.
Asked to comment on the ‘demand ‘ of the intellectuals and moviegoers, social activist- turned-educationist Aanjan Chatterjee, residing in C R Park area of Delhi, said ”Yes, the release of the film would have been more topical, if it was fixed in January, instead of February this year.”
”Topicality is a salient feature of all creativities – be it literature, music, film making and others-and these should be taking into account before finalising unfolding of such creations,” Mr Chatterjee maintained.
To the query, Ms Rina Sengupta, lecturer of Political Science of the same place, said, ”There is no doubt of it that the ‘The Tashkent Files’ could have attract more viewers, if it was scheduled to release in January 2019 instead of next month.”
Ms Sengupta also opined that the film could have also been released on January 11 along with the scheduled release of another controversial film- ”The Accidental Prime Minister” in view of the ensuing parliamentary elections.
”I don’t understand why the makers of the film missed and ignored the topical points,” she quipped.
Booklover and upcoming singer Tanmoy Bose, in a jubilant mood in the run-up to the January 30 International Kolkata Book Fair (IKBF) in Kolkata, when asked, remarked ”To us, topicality is a major factor, to which we give priority in any respects. That way, it was not a good decision on part of the film makers to postpone the release of the political film to February.
”We can’t even think of organising the IKBF without the winter chill of January and hold it in the summer of
May-June,” Bose quipped.
Earlier, Mr Vivek Agnihotri, writer-director of The Tashkent File had informed that he was ‘encouraged’ by many people, including political stalwarts like late Atal Bihari Vajpayee and George Fernandes, who had expressed the ”need” for dealing with the ”mystery” behind Shastri’s death.
”A death mystery unsolved till date. Was it a heart attack or poison? The truth of the biggest coverup has been denied to his family and us,” the director said.
Mr Agnihotri further maintained ”Immediately after Shastri’s death, the family members of the former Prime Minister officially requested a post-mortem to the then acting Prime Minister Gulzarilal Nanda, but to no avail.”
The Tashkent Files, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Mithun Chakraborty in the lead stores, is slated to release in February, this year.

Prayagraj, Jan 10 (UNI) Two labourers were injured when a portion of the building, which was being built to be used as a heliport during Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, collapsed.
Several construction works have been taken up in Prayagraj ahead of the Kumbh Mela, which is slated to begin on January 15. A new temporary city, which is believed to be the largest in the world, has been set up along Prayagraj, which has 250-km long roads and 22 pontoon bridges.
The incident occurred just 24 hours before the arrival of the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who is visiting here on Thursday.
However, authorities have ordered a probe into the reason behind the incident which occurred on Wednesday night, sources here on Thursday said.

Mysuru, Jan 9 (UNI) Suspecting husband’s character, a 44 year-old woman set him aflame at Sathya Nagar in Udayagiri Police Station limits on Tuesday night.
Police said on Wednesday that the 45 year-old Mazhar Pasha is battling for life at the Burns Ward in K R Hospital.
Mazhar Pasha was set aflame by his wife Mumtaz by pouring petrol on him while he was asleep. The couple who are married 24 years ago have six children. Pasha was working as an auto-rickshaw driver.
It is alleged that the couple were frequently quarreling over his illegal affairs. Unable to tolerate her anger, Mumtaz poured petrol on Pasha when he was asleep and set aflame.
Udayagiri Police have arrested Mumtaz and investigating.

New Delhi, Jan 9 UNI Mr Alok Verma resumed office as CBI chief here on Wednesday, almost 70 days after the government sent him on a forced leave in a midnight action in October.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court set aside the government’s October 23 order and reinstated Mr Verma as the agency’s director. However, in its order, the Apex court limited his powers such as taking big policy decisions till the Central Vigilance Commission probes corruption charges against him.

The CBI witnessed one of the worst crisis in its over 70-year history in 2018, with the bitter fight between its two top officers leading to a public showdown. The government intervened and sent Mr Verma and his deputy Special Director Rakesh Asthana on forced leave.

The interim charge was given to then Joint Director M Nageswara Rao while Mr Verma was sent on leave.

Meanwhile, after the government’s order, Mr Verma had challenged the same in the Supreme Court.