Six killed in Kashmir cloudburst
Jammu, July 20 (IANS): Six persons were killed and several houses and shops were damaged on Thursday in a cloudburst in the hilly district of Doda in Jammu and Kashmir, police said. The cloudburst hit Thathri town after midnight triggering a flash flood. “The death toll has risen to six. Over a dozen persons have been rescued and the rescue operation is still going on,” a police spokesman said. Three bodies were recovered first from the debris of the collapsed houses in the town. Three bodies were found later. Over half a dozen houses and as many shops were damaged in the cloudburst, officials said.
Rs 43 lakh looted from cash van in Bhopal
Bhopal, July 20 (IANS): Criminals on Thursday walked away with a carton packed with Rs 43 lakh from a cash van in this Madhya Pradesh capital, police said. The van was targeted when it reached Maharana Pratap Nagar to deposit money in an ATM. While some of the van occupants went into the ATM kiosk, two others remained in the vehicle. According to CCTV footage, a person can be seen taking out the cash carton from the rear of the van and heading towards the main road. “Police have launched a probe to find out as to how the goons managed to take away the money,” Additional Superintendent of Police Hitesh Chaudhary said.
28 killed in Himachal road accident
Shimla, July 20 (IANS): Twenty-eight persons were killed and nine others injured when a private bus carrying them fell into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla district on Thursday, an official said. The bus with 37 passengers on board was on its way from Rekong Peo town in Kinnaur district to Nauni in Solan district when it skidded off the road and crashed into the gorge. Deputy Commissioner Rohan Chand Thakur told IANS that the accident occurred after a tyre burst. The injured were admitted to nearby hospitals. Some were shifted to the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Governor Acharya Devvrat and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh have expressed their condolences over the loss of lives.
Karnataka to gift laptops to 1.5 lakh ‘poor’ students
Bengaluru, July 20 (IANS): The Karnataka government will gift laptops to 1.5 lakh students of ‘poor’ families joining colleges across the state this academic year, Law Minister T. B. Jaychandra said on Wednesday. “The state cabinet has approved to distribute laptops free of cost to 1.5 lakh students who got admission in government and aided medical, engineering, first grade and polytechnic colleges in the state,” Jaychandra told reporters after the cabinet meet. Admitting that the gesture would cost the exchequer about Rs 300 crore, the minister said the laptops would be given to only those students whose family annual income was Rs 2.5 lakh. “The policy will also give thrust to skill development in the sunrise sector and make Bengaluru a hub for the new software and hardware products,” added Jayachandra.
Three criminals who posed as Delhi Police officers to rob motorists, businessmen and jewellers at gunpoint here have been arrested, police said on Thursday. The accused were identified as Bharat Bhushan Datta, 36, Ravi Datta, 29, and Pankaj Naresh Pandit, 27. They are residents of different areas of west Delhi. “Wearing khakhi, the accused on July 15 robbed 40 kg of silver ornaments from a businessman and his family of Mayur Vihar on the pretext of checking their vehicle on the Noida Link Road flyover near Star City Mall,” Deputy Commissioner of Police G. Ram Gopal Naik said. They claimed to be officers from the Delhi Police Crime Branch, Naik told IANS. Police recovered 12.5 kg of jewellery items from their possession, the officer said.
Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat escaped unhurt after he was hit by a motorcycle here. The driver lost control of the vehicle and it hit the Congress leader, who was taking a stroll outside his residence in the Rajpur area last evening, according to Rawat’s spokesperson Surendra Kumar. The Congress leader though escaped the incident unhurt, said Kumar. A crowd had gathered after the incident, said Kumar, adding that Rawat ensured that the biker left the spot without any trouble.
