Char Dham Yatra resumes
New Delhi, Oct 22: As weather cleared up in Uttarakhand, Char Dham Yatra restored on Friday with more than 16,000 devotees resuming the pilgrimage from the Rishikesh camp. According to sources, road leading to Badrinath has been repaired and helicopter service has also resumed. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited Dungi village and met families of people who were missing after the landslip incident, and consoled them. Dhami assured them of all possible assistance. Two people from the village are still reported to be missing. (IANS)
Retired UP cop blackmailed
Lucknow, Oct 22: In a bizarre incident, a retired policeman from Krishna Nagar was allegedly blackmailed by a woman who started stripping while on a video call with him. The policeman then got a call from a man who introduced himself as a cop from Delhi, and asked for money. In his complaint, the retired policeman B.P.S. Solanki said, “The woman asked me where I was, and I told her that I am from Lucknow. She started to undress while on the call and I disconnected. A little later, I got a call from a man who told me that the video/ photo was being uploaded on YouTube and that to delete it, I would have to pay them Rs 10 lakh.” “I told the blackmailer I would not give a single penny to him or her,” he said. (IANS)
Mamata in Goa next week
Kolkata, Oct 22: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be in Goa next week on a two-day visit, as she seeks to branch out into new states, after having fortified the TMC’s position on her home turf in the assembly polls, a TMC leader said on Friday. The move evoked derision from the BJP, which called it sheer “political tourism”. Elections to the 40-member Goa assembly will be held early next year. “After returning from her north Bengal visit, the TMC chief will leave for Goa on October 28 on a two-day visit. She will hold meetings with party leaders in the coastal state. Her itinerary, however, is yet to be finalised,” he said. The Trinamool Congress, after its stunning victory in the West Bengal assembly elections earlier this year, is trying to increase its footprint nationally and has made inroads in BJP-ruled Goa and Tripura. (PTI)