BJP hires 10 trains for Narendra Modi’s rally
Patna: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has hired 10 trains to ferry its supporters here for the Oct 27 rally of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, a senior leader said Thursday. Since last month, BJP leaders have been busy touring different parts of state to mobilise supporters for the rally. Several buses have also been hired for the rally. “The party has booked 10 special trains, with 18 bogies each, for the rally,” senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav said, adding that the trains will run from different parts of the state to Patna. The special trains will run from Kishanganj, Purnea, Araria, Bhagalpur, Saharsa, Bettiah, Bagha and Samastipur, among other cities. Yadav, the leader of opposition in the state assembly, said the BJP’s district units will also ferry people by buses. “We are planning to hire buses from Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, as there are not enough buses available in the state,” he said. Senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi claimed that the number of peoplea attending the rally would break all previous records. “If lakhs of people can turn up to hear Narendra Modi in Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad and Rewari (in Haryana), where the party has few legislators, one can only imagine the biggest ever turnout in Patna,” Sushil Modi said, adding that Narendra Modi’s presence would be a big draw. (IANS)
Class VI student murdered, body dumped in school septic tank
Dindigul (TN): In a suspected case of murder, the body of a 11-year old student, missing since Monday, has been found in the septic tank in his school premises near here, police said on Thursday. Hariprasad, a class VI student and an inmate of the higher secondary school hostel at M M Kovilur, was reported missing since 6 am on Monday. On a complaint, police registered a case and launched a search for him. In the meanwhile, as foul smell emanated from the school septic tank, police opened it last night and found the body of Hariprasad, DSP Vanitha said. She said based on initial inquiry police suspect Hariprasad could have been murdered in a fallout of enmity between two groups of students and the body dumped in the septic tank. School Headmaster Tajuddin also said there was enmity between two groups of students and Hariprasad could have been murdered because of it. Hariprasad’s mother Parimala said she had met her son on Sunday. The school management said her son had gone out to take tea and did not return. If he had gone out how was that his body had been found in the septic tank inside the the school?,she asked. (PTI)
BSF recovers 26 kg heroin in Punjab
Chandigarh: The Border Security Force (BSF) on Thursday recovered nearly 26 kg of heroin in the Amritsar sector near the India-Pakistan international border in Punjab, an officer said. Alert BSF troopers foiled an attempt by Pakistani smugglers to push the consignment to their Indian counterparts. The heroin seized is valued at Rs.130 crore in the international market, a BSF officer said in Amritsar. The recovery was made near the Rajatal border out-post (BOP), 300 km from here. A mobile phone with a Pakistani Sim card was also recovered. The Pakistani smugglers managed to escape under cover of darkness. Punjab has a 553-km long barbed wire fenced international border with Pakistan. (PTI)
20 pilgrims killed in Punjab accident
Chandigarh: At least 20 people, including women and children, were killed and over 30 injured when a small truck rolled down a gorge in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district bordering Himachal Pradesh, police said on Thursday. The accident occurred early Thursday, when the truck, carrying pilgrims from a shrine in Himachal Pradesh back to Punjab, rolled down near Manguwal barrier, 20 km from Hoshiarpur. The accident site is 175 km from Chandigarh. Hoshiarpur district police chief Sukhchain Singh Gill confirmed that 20 people died in the accident. Police said 14 died on the spot. Those injured in the accident were taken to hospitals in Hoshiarpur. Police said that the truck driver failed to negotiate a sharp curve on the hilly road near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border, and the truck went off the road. Most of the victims, who were from Bholath area of Kapurthala district, were asleep when the accident occurred. Rescue efforts were hampered since the accident occurred in hilly terrain before daylight. (IANS)