Student commits suicide after being ragged by seniors
Kanpur: A 22-year-old student committed suicide allegedly after being ragged by his seniors, police said on Friday. 22-year-old Himanshu Vishwakarma, a student of mechanical engineering at Government Polytechnic College here, committed suicide in his hostel room on September 3 after being ragged and beaten up by his seniors, Superintendent of Police (Rural) A K Mishra said. An FIR has been filed against two senior students — Karan and Vijay — as well as other unidentified students after a complaint was filed by the brother of the deceased, Mishra said. According to preliminary investigation, the seniors ragged the victim on September 1, police said, adding, depressed over the incident, Vishwakarma took the extreme step. Members of the ‘anti-ragging unit’ of the college as well as the college authorities are being questioned in the matter, they said. Meanwhile, Principal F R Khan has set up a committee of 7 teachers to probe the incident. The college is also keeping a watchful eye on the freshers to prevent any untoward incident, police said. No arrests have been made so far, they said, adding investigation is on to nab the accused. (PTI)
Combing operations intensified in Odisha
Koraput (Odisha): Security forces have intensified combing operations in and around Majhiguda after exchange of fire with the Maoists in Odisha’s Koraput district, police said Friday. “Additional forces have been deployed in Majhiguda forest and efforts are on to nab the Maoists,” said Y K Jethwa, Inspector General of Police (south-western range). During the encounter that took place on Wednesday, the rebels managed to escape under the cover of darkness, but blood trails suggested some rebels might have been injured in the gun-battle, Jethwa said. Around 20 Maoists were present in the forest when a joint team of SOG personnel from Koraput and Malkangiri attacked and busted three of their camps, he said. Three guns, huge quantities of live bullets, medicines, utensils, batteries, bags containing daily use items and Maoist literature were recovered from the spot. Sources said the Maoists had assembled under the leadership of one Rukmani of Boipariguda Area Committee to prepare a blueprint to attack various government establishments and execute major offencive in the run-up to the 10th formation year of CPI (Maoist) on September 21. (PTI)
Police foil attempts by four AP young men to join ISIS rank
Hyderabad: An alleged attempt by a group of four young men from the city to join the rank of ISIS, a Sunni jihadist group, has been foiled by the Hyderabad Police. The four, including two engineering students (all aged between 23 and 25), were tracked down to Kolkata last week from where they were allegedly preparing to flee to Iraq, a senior police officer told PTI Friday. The youths were “attracted” by the ISIS propaganda on social networking sites and net-based mobile messenger, he claimed. “However, it were the parents who got “suspicious” about their children and got in touch with the City Police, who in turn picked them up from Kolkata last week based on their parents’ information,” the police officer said. The youths were then counselled and sent back to their parents, he added. Reacting to a query, the officer further said the four youngsters were not in touch with ISIS operatives or vice-versa and it was only through social networking platforms that they were drawn to ISIS. (PTI)
RTI activist shot at after seeking info from village head
Meerut: A 48-year-old RTI activist was shot at near his home in Tofapur village here after he had sought information from the village head about the development works undertaken in the area. The victim, identified as Kailash, was attacked Thursday and is now out of danger, police said. Resident of Tofapur, Kailash had twice sought information under the RTI from the village head about the development works undertaken in the area and the expenses on them, SHO, Inchauli police station, T S Yadav said. After being allegedly denied information by the village head (‘gram pradhan’), Kailash lodged a complaint in this connection with the State Information Commission in Lucknow and the SIC had fixed a hearing on September 5, Yadav said. The activist was shot at near his house when he was on his way to Lucknow Thursday, he said. He was taken to nearby hospital where the doctors removed the bullet he had sustained in the attack, he said. Four persons including the village head have been booked after a complaint filed by the family of the victim, police said. (PTI)