Four killed, 30 injured in nightlong Pakistan shelling
Jammu, May 23 (IANS): Four civilians have been killed and 30 injured in overnight shelling by the Pakistan Rangers on the international border in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts, authorities said on Wednesday. Over 40,000 border villagers have migrated from their homes close to the international border in R.S.Pura, Arnia, Ramgarh and Hiranagar sectors as a war-like situation threatens civilian lives, cattle and property. The Pakistan Rangers continued heavy shelling and firing for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, targetting Border Security Force and civilian facilities.
33 passengers of Puri-Howrah Shatabdi Express fall ill after breakfast
Kolkata, May 23 (IANS): At least 33 passengers in the Kolkata-bound 12278 Puri-Howrah Shatabdi Express were taken ill allegedly after consuming the breakfast served on board on Wednesday morning, a senior railway official said. Fourteen of them had to be briefly hospitalised following complaints of uneasiness and vomiting. The affected passengers were treated at Kharagpur station that kept the train there for almost an hour. A section of the affected passengers claimed to have fallen ill after consuming the food served by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in the train. The railway official, however, claimed that it is not certain whether the passengers consumed food served by the IRCTC or outside vendors. “The food samples of the IRCTC have been sent for testing. We can confirm whether it had anything bad in it after the report comes out. However, it is unlikely because nearly 500 passengers in the train were served the same food while a small proportion of them complained of food poisoning,” Sanjoy Ghosh, Chief Public Relations Officer of the South Eastern Railway added.
SIT formed to probe extortion calls to UP BJP legislators
Lucknow, May 23 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday constituted a three member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe alleged threat calls and extortion demands received by 14 ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators. Additional Director General of Police Anand Kumar said the team has been assigned the task of cracking this sensitive case. He also expressed hope that the team would be able to soon decipher who are the people behind such WhatsApp messages and calls to the legislators. Between Monday and Tuesday this week as many as 14 BJP legislators have been sent WhatsApp messages seeking money to the tune of Rs 10 lakh from each or else their family members would be eliminated. Officials privy to the investigation said similar language had been used by the threat makers in all the 14 cases. An official said most numbers from which the threats were made were “virtual numbers” and the virtual private networks have also been apparently used where the proxy servers ensure that the IP addresses are masked. Head of SIT Amitabh Yash told IANS that the team was looking at all possibilities.
Man breaks Ramadan fast to save thalassemic child
Patna, May 23 (IANS): A Muslim in Bihar chose humanity over religious customs, broke his Ramadan fast to donate blood to an eight-year-old Hindu thalassemic boy and saved his life. Jawed Alam on Tuesday donated blood to Rajesh Kumar in Gopalganj district, a district health official said. The boy was rushed to the emergency of Sadar hospital by his father. The patient complained of uneasiness and weakness, and required immediate blood transfusion. There was no blood matching Rajesh’s blood group available in the blood bank. They said it would take at least two-to-three days to arrange it. The boy’s condition deteriorated quickly. His father had travelled some 200 km from the Kuchaikote area and was fast losing hope as he waited in the corridors of the blood bank. It was then that a hospital sweeper and cleaner, informed Anwar Hussain, a member of District Blood Donor Team (DBDT) about the child. “They agreed only after I took their advise, broke my fast and consumed fruit juice and some solids,” the young Muslim man in his 30s said. He said: “My religion teaches me to help a fellow human first, so I broke my fast and donated blood to save little Rajesh. Islam preaches that humanity is bigger than everything.” Thalassemia is a blood disorder and a thalassemic patient needs blood transfusion after every three-to-four weeks.
Varanasi: Sons hide woman’s body to keep pension flowing
Varanasi, May 23 (IANS): In a shocking incident, five children of a woman were keeping her dead body in their house here for the past five months, so that the pension coming in her name did not stop despite her passing away, police said on Wednesday. The bizarre incident came to light in the Awas Vikas Colony of Durgakund in the temple town after locals reported of stench emanating from the house for the past few days. As police searched the house, they found the decomposed body of a woman, later identified as Amrawati Devi, who had died five months back. The body had been preserved in some chemical solution by her sons and their wives, with the lure of pension high on their mind. The body of the 70-year-old was later sent for autopsy. On further inquiry, the police discovered that the woman was getting a family pension of Rs 40,000 per month after her late husband, Daya Prasad, who retired from the post of Superintendent in the Customs Department, passed away.
Delhi government orders 575 schools to refund excess fees
New Delhi, May 23 (IANS): The Delhi government on Wednesday directed 575 private schools in the city to refund to parents the excess fees charged by them with nine per cent interest. The order, issued by the Directorate of Education, was based on a committee constituted by the Delhi High Court for examining the records and accounts of “Unaided Recognised Private Schools” in respect of implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission. A total of 1,169 Unaided Recognised Private Schools were examined from June 2016 to January 2018.
