Former Indian diplomat Nirupam Sen dead
New Delhi, July 2 (IANS): Nirupam Sen, a former Indian Permanent Representative to the UN, passed away here on Sunday. He was 70. Succeeding Vijay K. Nambiar, Sen served as India’s Permanent Representative from September 2004 to March 2009. After retirement, Sen was appointed Special Senior Advisor to the UN General Assembly President. Sen also served as India’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Bulgaria and Norway.
Five injured in East Delhi building collapse
New Delhi, July 2 (IANS): Five persons were injured as a four-storey commercial building collapsed here in the early hours of Sunday, a fire service official said. However, according to the police, only Balkar Singh, 57, was injured in the accident that happened in Laxmi Nagar in east Delhi. “The building owner, his wife and two children were living in the first floor of the building but they were not injured,” a police officer told IANS. Singh’s condition is said to be stable, he added. The police officer said that the injured person was living behind the collapsed building and a room of his house has been destroyed. According to the police, the building was old and there was no particular reason for its collapse.
Moderate to heavy rain lash most parts of Bihar
Patna, July 2 (PTI): Moderate to heavy rainfall occurred at most places in Bihar in the past 24 hours while very heavy rainfall occurred at Bhagalpur, the Met office said. Gaya recorded 72 mm rainfall, followed by 4.4 mm in Bhagalpur, 2.6 mm in Patna and 0.6 mm in Purnea today (i.e. recorded between 8:30 am to 5:30 pm), it said. Bhagalpur recorded 173.6 mm of rainfall in past 24 hours (from 8:30 am on Satarday to 8:30 am on Sunday) while it rained 54.2 mm in Gaya and 6.2 mm in Patna.
BJP leader arrested for Jharkhand lynching
Ranchi, July 2 (IANS): A Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Jharkhand has been arrested in connection with Thursday’s lynching of a Muslim man for allegedly carrying beef, police said on Sunday. Nityanand Mahto, the party’s media in-charge in Ramgarh, was arrested on Saturday from the district party chief’s house, the police said. Mahto has pleaded innocence. He said he had visited the spot only to inquire into the incident after the police had reached. He has demanded an impartial probe into the incident.
Swaraj compliments MP CM for initiative to protect Narmada
New Delhi, July 2 (PTI): External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today lauded Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for his initiative to plant six crore saplings along the Narmada to protect the river. In a series of tweets in Hindi, Swaraj said the initiative to conserve “mother Narmada” will inspire protection of environment globally. “I am thankful to the vice-chancellor of the university for choosing sapling of ‘Kadamb’ which was a favourite tree of Lord Krishna,” she said.
A senior Jet Airways official has been arrested from New Delhi on land grabbing charges, police said here. Avneet Singh Bedi, posted in Mumbai as Jet Airways’ chief security officer, was arrested last night from his Panchsheel Park residence in south Delhi based on a complaint by the Joint Municipal Commissioner, Ghaziabad, Arun Kumar Gupta. The complaint alleged that Bedi, a retired Army colonel, grabbed 945 square metres of government land in Chikamberpur village on the Delhi-UP border. A part of the land, measuring 532 square metres, was rented out to a transport company and he used the rest of it as an approach road to enter the transport godown, Superintendent of Police Akash Tomar said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday expressed grief over the killing of five persons in Rae Bareli district and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for their kin. Adityanath also asked the Inspector General of Police to arrest the culprits within 10 days. Three persons were lynched and two others were burnt to death during a group clash in Rae Bareli district on June 26 night. The clash was said to be the result of a property dispute and long-drawn animosity between the two groups.
A 38-year-old man, along with his juvenile accomplice, has been held in the national capital for killing a man on the suspicion that he was having an affair with his wife, police said on Saturday. The accused were apprehended in Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh on a tip-off. Kumar, along with his accomplice, had murdered Shanu, 23, on June 30. Police found that Shanu had been stabbed nearly 25 times with a knife.
Seventy-seven bars opened again across Kerala on Sunday after being closed down more than two years ago. The reopening at three-star and four-star hotels became a reality as the government’s new liquor policy came into effect on July 1. Since the first day of every month is a dry day, the bars opened on Sunday morning at 11. Until now, just 23 bars functioned in five-star hotels here. The earlier Congress government closed down more than 700 bars that functioned in two-, three- and four-star hotels as it formulated a liquor policy through which prohibition would be in place in Kerala by 2023. According to sources in the excise department, several more bars will be opening as they are waiting for the mandatory licenses.
A case been registered against a man for allegedly posting indecent remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on WhatsApp, the police said today. An FIR has been lodged at the Rasra police station on the complaint of a BJP office bearer, they said. “The matter came to light yesterday evening, when Suraj, reported to be a BSP supporter, posted some indecent remarks on the social media against PM Modi and UP CM Adityanath. An FIR was registered on the complaint of BJP office bearer Gopal Soni,” said Santosh Yadav, incharge, Rasra police station.
