Kapil Mishra given Y-category security
Delhi Police have provided Y-category security cover to suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi minister Kapil Mishra after assessing his threat perception.
As per the security protocol, Mishra has been provided two personal security officers, who will remain with him round-theclock. Besides this, four constables led by a security supervisor have been deployed at his home.
The rebel AAP MLA said he did not make any formal request for the same. “The police might have done an interval review of the security situation based on their intelligence input. I came to know about the deployment only when the guards reported for duty,” Mishra told HT.
Last month, Ankit Bhardwaj, an alleged AAP supporter, attacked Mishra at his home in Civil Lines, where he sat on a satyagraha after levelling graft charges against Chief Minister Arvind Kajriwal. A week ago, Mishra was roughed up by party MLAs and was dragged out of the Delhi Assembly by marshals.
A senior security departmental officials said that one of the personal security officer will be armed with INSAS rifle and the other with a pistol. As per the Union home ministry’s guidelines, categories of security covers are divided into four tiers: Z-plus (highest level), Z, Y and X.
“Mishra automatically got Y-category security cover when he became a minister, but it was withdrawn when he was suspended by AAP. His threat perception was reviewed following intelligence inputs we received about possible attacks on him,” said an officer, adding that 11 security personnel have been deployed for Mishra’s security.
The futile search triggered speculation that the judge could be hiding in Nepal or that he managed to put police off his trail by sending his cell phone with a decoy to Chennai.
A senior IPS officer tracking the case from Kolkata said: “Justice Karnan has switched off his phones and is not using the two SIM cards he had.”
On why the trail had gone cold, the officer said: “The lack of knowledge of Tamil and the local topography have hindered the search and forced Bengal police to rely on their Tamil Nadu counterparts.”
Meanwhile, some members of the legal fraternity said police would ramp up their efforts in tracking down the judge after June 12, when he will cease to have judicial powers following retirement.
At least 12 people were killed by the attackers, the head of Iran’s emergency department, Pir-Hossein Kolivand, was quoted as saying by state broadcaster IRIB.
“I was inside the parliament when shooting happened. Everyone was shocked and scared. I saw two men shooting randomly,” said one journalist at the scene, who asked not to be named.
Soon after the assault on parliament, another bomber detonated a suicide vest near the shrine of the Republic’s revered founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, a few kilometres south of the city, Zolfaghari said, according to Tasnim.
A second attacker was shot dead, he said.
The Intelligence Ministry said security forces had arrested another “terrorist team” planning a third attack, without giving further details.
The attacks took place less than a month after the re-election of President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate, whose landslide victory defeated candidates supported by the hardline clergy and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is responsible for national security.
“The atmosphere is tense. It is a blow to Rouhani. How can four armed men enter the parliament, where a very tight security has always been in place,” said a senior official, who asked not to be named.
“The new uniform syllabus will be effective from 2018,” Arathoon said.
Sanskrit and yoga, a discipline that dates back thousands of years, gained prominence after the BJP formed the government in 2014. An International Yoga Day, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed for soon after taking power, is celebrated across the world.
The CISCE also announced an Aadhar-linked DigiLocker system, which will allow ICSE and ISC students to access school and board documents digitally.
“We are requesting schools to make sure they ask students to register with their Aadhar number by this year so that the system can be in place,” Arathoon said.
The non-NDA parties, meanwhile, have formed a panel of eight leaders to decide on a common candidate.
The EC said the poll notification will be issued on June 14, and processes to file and withdraw nominations will follow. The exercise will conclude with the declaration of the result on July 20, provided the election is conducted.
The EC is mandated to hold the presidential poll under the provisions contained in articles 54 to 58 and 62 of the Constitution, and the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act1952. The strength of the electoral college, which has 10,98,882 votes, will be slightly higher this time due to the formation of Telangana in June 2014.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has been negotiating with leaders of other Opposition parties, such as the Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and the CPI(M), to arrive at a name. Former West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and erstwhile Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar are possible contenders from their side.
Information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu, however, accused the Congress of instigating the violence in Mandsaur.
“Congress is trying to give it a political twist. I only want to tell them not to politicise the issue...because it will boomerang on you,” Naidu said in Delhi
The MP government denied permission to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to visit curfew-bound Mandsaur on Wednesday. The party said he is likely to reach the district on Thursday accompanied by general secretary Kamal Nath and Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav.
Rattled by the widespread protests, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government said it was working on a crop-loan settlement scheme to waive interests of a section of around 6 lakh farmers, 30 percent of the state’s farming community.
“We are working on a formula. This is not a loan-waiver scheme but interest is likely to be waived. We would come out with details later,” minister Archana Chitnis said after attending a meeting chaired by chief minister Chouhan.
Officials said in Bhopal the violence spread to several districts during a statewide shutdown called by several farmers’ bodies and backed by the Congress.
Protesters torched several buses and other vehicles on the Bhopal-Indore highway, halting traffic for hours in Dewas. Eyewitnesses said passengers, crying for help, ran to agriculture fields for safety.
Protesters pelted stones at police stations in the district and set a police outpost on fire. They also burnt down several vehicles including seven buses and a stateowned medical van.
In Neemuch, police fired tear gas shells to quell protesting farmers who tried to set the local police station on fire while in Dhar, farmers pelted stones on police. In Ujjain district, clashes were reported between protesters and police. Sources said three police personnel were injured in the clashes. In Khargone district, police caned agitating farmers, who damaged nearly a dozen vehicles and ransacked properties. In Bhopal’s Misrod area, farmers tried to burn the effigy of the chief minister but were stopped by police.
A toll tax plaza at Mandsaur’s Pipliayamandi was ransacked. Several vehicles, a warehouse and a factory were also set on fire.
A policeman was also also assaulted in Mandsaur while a bank building, a petrol pump and several shops were set on fire. A vehicle of a former MLA was also set on fire.
“It is the police who killed our children who gone in support of our just demands,” said a farmer in Pipliyamandi, demanding action against the policemen.
The farmers killed on Tuesday were cremated at their respective villages in Mandsaur on Wednesday. The farmers said the government should immediately hand over the compensation of ~1 crore each to the kin of the dead, announced by the chief minister. They also demanded that the slain farmers be declared as martyrs. “We want the money now. We will not believe in the assurances of the government till we have the cheque in our hand,” said a protester.
Madhya Pradesh is cited as one of the biggest agriculture success stories in India in recent times but successive droughts have played havoc for farmers dependent on rains for their crops.
From last February to midFebruary this year, at least 1,982 farmers and farm labourers committed suicide in MP, data from the National Crime Records Bureau show. Most of the deaths are attributed to the farmers’ inability to pay of debts taken from private money-lenders in high rates of interest.
Rajput jumped bail and fled India, and is running the syndicate from Dubai now. He is said to be a key player in narco-terrorism against India and close to fugitive Mumbai ganglord Dawood Ibrahim.
“Rajput sent drugs from Dubai and Aslam distributed these to their contacts in France, Germany, UK, Spain, USA and even West Asian countries through couriers,” an officer said.
Aslam was busted when sleuths arrested a delivery boy named Avdhesh on Sunday with a backpack containing around 5kg of premium quality contraband at the Mahipalpur office of courier company Prefer Logistic Pvt Ltd in southwest Delhi.
Avdhesh, aged 26, allegedly told police he was lured into the illegal trade by his employer Amit Aggarwal and manager Chandan Rai. He was offered around ₹33,000 for each kg of drug ferried point to point.
He wanted to get rich overnight and agreed, police said.
The 40-year-old Aggarwal disclosed that Aslam had sent the consignment to him from Mumbai. MDMA, short for methylenedioxymethamphetamine, is popular among youngsters, especially in rave parties in Delhi, Mumbai, Goa and other cities.
Aslam’s uncle Abu Asim Azmi is the Mumbai unit president of the Samajwadi Party. He was in the news this May for taking over the management of Islamic International School (IIS), founded and run by controversial Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik.