Five members of family found dead
New Delhi: Decomposed bodies of an e-rickshaw driver, his wife and three children were found inside their house in northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura area under mysterious circumstances on Wednesday morning, police said. The deceased have been identified as Shambhu Chaudhary (43), Sunita (37), Shivam (17), Sachin (14) and Komal (12), they said. The police received information at 11.16 am from neighbours, who complained of foul smell emanating from the house. The police broke open the door of the house and found the five decomposed bodies. The bodies have been sent for a post-mortem examination. The cause of the death is yet to be ascertained and a forensic team has been called at the spot which is examining the case, said Ved Prakash Surya, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast). No note has been recovered from the spot, he said. Preliminary investigation revealed that Shambhu Chaudhary was earning his livelihood by driving an e-rickshaw in Bhajanpura. He had put as a tenant at the rented house for the past five months. He hailed from Supole district in Bihar, the DCP added. (PTI)
Three firemen killed in Jammu
Jammu: Three firemen were killed and six persons injured when a three-storey building collapsed in Jammu city on Wednesday when fire department personnel were trying to put out a blaze, officials said. Director General of Fire and Emergency Services, V K Singh said the building in Golepulli area of Tallab Tillo, housing a saw mill on the ground floor, collapsed during the fire fighting operation. “We lost three personnel in the incident, while six persons — four civilians and two firemen — were rescued in an injured condition and were evacuated to a hospital,” Singh who supervised the rescue operation, told PTI. Soon after the incident, the State Disaster Response Force and police rushed to the scene and were later joined by a team of National Disaster Response Force to rescue the trapped persons. After hectic efforts, the bodies of the three trapped firefighters identified as Vimal Kumar Raina, Rattan Chand and Mohammad Aslam were retrieved from under the debris, Singh said. He said the firefighters were making efforts to put out the blaze when the building collapsed at 5.30 am. “We have rescued four trapped civilians in the morning while two of our personnel suffered injuries. All the rescued persons were evacuated and taken to a hospital,” Singh said, adding that while one of the firemen is being treated for serious burn injuries, the other is undergoing treatment for head injuries. (PTI)
Marathi to be made mandatory
Mumbai: The Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra will bring a bill in the upcoming session of the state legislature to make teaching Marathi mandatory in all schools up to Class 10 irrespective of the board they are affiliated to, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday. Minister for Marathi Language Subhash Desai said the draft of the bill is being prepared and the proposed legislation will be introduced in the budget session starting on February 24. Speaking to reporters here, he said, There are 25,000 schools in Maharashtra that do not teach Marathi. (Once the bill is passed) it will be mandatory for all schools running here to teach the Marathi language as part of their curriculum.” The draft regarding the same is being finalised. We are working on its intricacies,” said Desai, a leader of the Shiv Sena which is heading the three-party alliance government in the state. Besides schools affiliated to the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education, there are a number of those which follow syllabus prescribed by education boards like ICSE, CBSE and IGCSE. (PTI)
Meteor speculation in Rajasthan
Jaipur: An unexplained streak of light in the sky seen in Rajasthan’s Alwar district triggered speculation that it was a meteor. But there is no evidence of any meteorite on the ground. “No debris or evidence of the meteorite fall was found in the areas where the light was seen by people,” Alwar Additional District Magistrate Uttam Singh Shekhawat said. The incident was purportedly captured by a CCTV camera on Tuesday at 5.18 am in Itarana industrial area in Alwar’s Bhakhera. “A sharp and bright light was seen in the footage of the CCTV camera installed outside my residence. No damage or impact of the object was seen in the nearby area,” advocate Rajesh Kumar Gupta said. Meanwhile, a team of amateur astronomers reached the district where the incident was reported. Tarun Sharma of SPACE India, which is involved in astronomy education, said it is apparently a meteoroid which burnt out in the atmosphere before its impact on the earth. “Villagers saw the bright light, but no one saw it falling on the earth,” he said. (PTI)
MNS activists beat eve teasers
Nashik: Activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) beat up some youths outside a school for harassing girls in Maharashtra’s Nashik. According to sources in the MNS and local police, the incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon outside the school in Shalimar area of the city. No police complaint is filed in the case. Sources said the youths were passing comments on girls coming out of the school. (PTI)