Bihar rocked by another kidnapping

    Patna: Another student kidnapping incident has taken place in Bihar's capital Patna. A 15-year old schoolboy was abducted on Tuesday while on his way to school. Nirmalendu Diwakar, a class IX student of a public school in Patna, was kidnapped soon after he left for his school in his car with the driver. OP Diwaker, the child's father, said the abductors smashed the windscreen, pulled out the driver, shifted Nirmalendu Diwaker and sped away to an unknown destination. "Today the school was due to start 30 minutes late because of fog. As usual, my son got ready for the school. The driver arrived and they set off in the van. They were stopped at the next turning. The windscreen was smashed and the driver taken out. The kidnappers escaped with my son," he said. Police have begun an investigation into the abduction. The third kidnapping incident in the last fortnight, it has sparked fears of a return to the rampant kidnappings for ransom days.

    Bihar, known for its high crime rate, is notorious for its extremely powerful gangster cartels, which analysts say are backed and protected by politicians and literally remain untouched by law. It is fast spreading to other states targeting traders and businessmen who are often seen as soft targets. Lawyers, doctors and wealthy businessmen have been the prime target of extortionists in the state, and hundreds have over the years migrated to bigger cities or sent their children to boarding schools. Businessmen also allege that there is a nexus between kidnappers, local politicians and the state police. Analysts say the situation is so grave that over 10,000 small and big businessmen have fled the state, shrinking the state economy to abysmal depths.

Abducted businessman rescued in Patna  (Go To Top)

    Patna: Patna Police on Tuesday rescued abducted businessman, Prashant Jain. Prashant was abducted on January 5 while returning to his flat on Buddha Marg in Patna. Jain's safe return gave some ray of hope to the citizens of Patna, though the abduction of a class IX student of Don Bosco School from the city's Anisabad locality, just a few metres away from his home came as a shock. "Prashant has returned home safely, I have just received this message from the Director General of Police," said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Nearly 13 days after having been abducted, Prashant's return was like a dream come true for his family. Being the brother of a person named Shilpi, who was murdered here under mysterious circumstances a few years ago, people suspected his abduction to be connected with the murder. Prashant's kidnappers had abandoned him on the Gandhi Setu. He looked very pale and weak and was not allowed to confront the media. Police officials however, claimed Prashant's return to be result of the massive hunt launched by them throughout the state. Earlier in the day, Bunti the school student was kidnapped while on his way to school, a few metres away from his home. OP Diwaker, the child's father, said the kidnapper smashed the windscreen, pulled out the driver, shifted Nirmalendu (Bunti) and sped away to an unknown destination. "Today the school was due to start 30 minutes late because of fog. As usual, my son got ready for school. The driver arrived and they set off in the van. They were stopped at the next turning. The windscreen was smashed and the driver taken out. The kidnappers escaped with my son," he said. Notwithstanding police claims of a breakthrough in the case, Bunti still remains untraced. Police has also claimed of launching an intensive search operation for his rescue. Raids are on to trace Bunti, they said.

Clash in train: 7 cops suspended (Go To Top)

    Lucknow: Six General Railway Police (GRP) constables and the Superintendent of Police (GRP) of Moradabad Railway Station have been suspended in connection with an alleged fight between doctors and Provincial Arms Constabulary (PAC) on a train near Moradabad on Monday. Cases have been registered against 100 PAC jawans. At least seven medical students went missing and several others were found injured in a clash. Meanwhile, protests were held in Gorakhpur, Meerut and Allahabad over the incident and junior doctors in several medical colleges across the State had gone on strike. Medical students in Meerut protested against some of the students being allegedly thrown out from a running train after a fight between them and jawans of the PAC over sharing of berths. Teachers and the medical staff have condemned the incident. Students have demanded that those who are missing should be found out immediately. Moreover, stern action should be taken against the police officials responsible for the incident.

   The incident occurred when a group of doctors, returning to Lucknow after attending the test for medical post graduate courses at Meerut, asked the PAC personnel to vacate the reserved seats in the S-3 coach of the Allahabad-bound Meerut Nauchandi Express train. The PAC personnel refused to do so and argued with the passengers before allegedly beating up the doctors. It is feared that the missing doctors have been thrown out of the running train by the PAC personnel during the fight.

Former minister Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav dead (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: Former Union minister and veteran Congress leader Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav died at a private hospital here this morning following a cardiac arrest. He was 85. Yadav,a leader from Bihar, had not been keeping well for sometime. He was brought to the national capital from Patna for treatment three weeks ago in a serious condition but he did not respond to the treatment, family sources here said. He is survivied by a son and a daughter.

Main accused in phone tapping case held (Go To Top)
by Chandrika Jain

    New Delhi: Delhi Police today arrested Vijay Dhawan, the main accused in the phone tapping case involving Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh. Dhawan is understood to have acquired bogus letters of approval to facilitate the phone tapping operation. He appeared before the police and was thereafter arrested. So far, Delhi Police has arrested three persons in connection with the phone tapping case. They are Bhupendra, the owner of a private detective agency, who was nabbed on December 30, Kuldeep Singh, an employee of the Reliance Infocomm, who had allegedly helped Bhupendra and an associate of Bhupendra.

   Delhi Police had registered a case of forgery, cheating, criminal conspiracy and other relevant sections of the Indian Telegraph Act in connection with the allegations made by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. Earlier, refuting the involvement of any politician or political party in the phone tapping case, Union Home Secretary V K Duggal had said that it was a sting operation organized by a private party for monetary and other gains. Duggal further clarified that the Centre, the Delhi Police or the Delhi Government were not involved in any way. Meanwhile, Delhi Police has questioned Ashok Chaturvedi, the Chairman of Flex Industries on January 14, who is believed to have tipped off Amar Singh about his phones being under surveillance. On January 13, Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh had appeared at the Lodi Road police station here following a notice from the Delhi Police in connection with investigations into his phone tapping allegations. After his appearance before the special cell, Amar Singh had said that he had no faith in the Delhi Police. Relations between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress party have soured following Amar Singh's allegation that Sonia Gandhi was behind the phone tapping incident. Also, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had alleged that Congress party President Sonia Gandhi had asked Government agencies to tap telephones of senior Samajwadi Party leaders, saying the telephones of the party members were "being tracked by the Delhi Police at the behest of 10, Janpath". Yadav had said that the conversation of Amar Singh was regularly being tapped and his phone had a direct link to the phone of Joint Commissioner (Crime), North Zone, Delhi, adding that the order for this operation was given by the Principal Secretary, Home. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had, however, refuted the allegations, terming them "totally baseless".

Uttar Pradesh's most wanted dacoit killed (Go To Top)
by Kamna Hajela Mathur

    Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh's most wanted dacoit, Kalua Yadav, has been killed in an armed encounter with police. Yadav, who had been operating in the Ganga ravines in the Shahjahanpur-Farrukhabad region for the last 20 years, was a terror in Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Etah and Farrukhabad districts. He is also well connected politically. State Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav described the killing of the dacoit as a big achievement for the state government and the police. "This is not the first achievement of the state government. I am happy to share this with the media that our police has successfully eliminated all the dreaded dacoits from the state. Its a very big achievement of the state government and now people can live a peaceful life which is important for the development of the nation. The police and other security agencies are playing a very important role and I congratulate them," said Mulayam Singh Kalua was killed in a combined operation conducted by police teams from Bareilly, Badaun and other neighbouring districts near Kateri under Fatehganj (East) police station of Bareilly district. Kalua joined the Chandra Sen gang initially and later joined the Lalla Rani Thakur gang before striking out on his own. Though active in the ravines since 1986, his gang was 'registered' only in January 2000. Kalua formed his own gang after elimination of the Thakur gang. More than 90 cases of murder, kidnapping and loot were pending against him. In 2000, the gang had raided Marudhar Express at Narthar (Etah) railway station and killed four cops, including one inspector and a sub-inspector. He was a dacoit who had killed the largest number of cops in the state.

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