LIVE! Home Minister, CM pay tribute to CRPF jawans killed in Sukma

11:09  Home Minister, CM pay tribute to CRPF jawans killed in Sukma :  Home minister Rajnath Singh reaches Raipur to pay tribute to the 25 CRPF jawans slain in a Naxal attack yesterday. Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh is also there. The attack took place between Burkapal-Chintagufa area in south Bastar, the worst Maoist violence-affected district area of the state. President Pranab Mukherjee, PM Narendra Modi yesterday expressed their condolences.

Rajnath Singh on Monday night briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the attack.  CM Raman Singh also held an emergency meet at his official residence in Raipur with senior administrative and police officials.

The chief minister took details of the incident in the wake of the attack. He directed the officials to make every necessary arrangement so that the bodies of troopers reach their native places as early as possible, according to the officer.

He also directed to provide best possible medical assistance to the injured personnel admitted in the two hospitals in Raipur.

10:48  ‘Go to Pakistan’: Elderly Muslim man humiliated by youth in Delhi metro :   In yet another shocking case of religious discrimination, an elderly Muslim man was denied a seat in Delhi metro by a group of youth, who hurled slurs and abuses at him over his appearance.

The incident took place in the violet line of Delhi Metro where the young men turned down the request of a senior citizen of vacating a seat and told him to go to Pakistan if he wishes to get a seat in the coach.

The incident came into view after women’s right activist Kavita Krishnan unfolded this shameful incident in her Facebook post.

According to the post, the National Secretary of AICCTU, Santosh Roy, intervened and came forward in support of the old man.

When Roy asked the young men to apologise to the man, they refused and also held Roy by his collar and allegedly told him to “Go to Pakistan”.

Finally, when a guard entered the compartment at the Khan Market station. A complaint was filed at the Pandara Road police station where they were taken.

A few days later, when Roy visited the police station he came to know that the elderly man had decided not to pursue the complaint.

“The elderly gentleman had given a written statement that he accepted the apology from the two young men and that he had forgiven them keeping in mind their young age,” Krishnan added.

Representational image.

10:31  Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance author dies :  Robert Pirsig, the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, died on Monday. He was 88. Pirsig, who had been institutionalised for a while after being diagnosed schizophrenic in the 1960s, died of natural causes, a statement issued by his publisher William Morrow & Co said.

10:27  Sensex climbs 168 pts on RIL earnings; positive global cues:   The benchmark BSE Sensex climbed almost 168 points in early session today as sentiments rose with Reliance Industries’ better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings numbers which were announced yesterday. This apart, a firming trend in other Asian markets, taking strong cues from the US and European markets following Emmanuel Macron’s first round presidential election win in France, boosted trading sentiments.

09:57  My son killed five Naxals, I’m proud of him: CRPF :   The mother of CRPF constable Sher Mohammed, who was injured in the Naxal attack says she is proud of her son. “My son killed five Naxals. I’m proud of my son. The entire village is praying for him,” said Fareeda.
Seven jawans were injured in the attack yesterday, which left 25 dead.

09:45  Mortal remains of slain CRPF jawans reach Chhattisgarh police camp:  Bodies of the 25 CRPF jawans killed by Naxals in an ambush in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district are being brought to the Chhattisgarh Armed Forces camp in Mana.

The Naxals mounted the assault around 12.25 pm in the Kalapathar area of south Bastar region, one of the worst-hit by Left-wing extremism in the country.

The area is close to the Chintagufa-Burkapal-Bheji axis, the hotbed of Naxal violence which has seen a number of such attacks in the past resulting in high casualties.

The incident occurred near Burkapal village within Chintagufa police station limits, Sukma Additional Superintendent of Police Jitendra Shukla said.

While 11 bodies were recovered first, 12 were found during combing operations. A jawan succumbed to his injuries while being evacuated by air, the officer added.

An injured jawan, brought to a hospital in Raipur, said the CRPF patrol was attacked by around 300 Maoist guerrillas.

09:32  Day 3: Dinakaran’s grilling continues :  After an eight-hour long grilling of the ousted All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader TTV. Dinakaran by the Crime Branch office of the Delhi Police on Monday, his interrogation over the case involving bribing of an Election Commission official to get the party’s ‘two-leaves’ symbol will continue today.

Dinakaran’s lawyer has been asked to appear in the Crime Branch office at 11 am today, while his Personal Assistant Janardhanan has been summoned at 2 pm. Dinakaran was called in at 5 pm on Monday, which stretched over to a long eight-hour interrogation after which the leader was seen leaving the crime branch post midnight.

It is being said that the Crime Branch is trying to get to the core of the issue and believes a nexus is at work, which is run by a higher authority.

Ergo, the grilling continues without any signs of stopping.

Earlier on Sunday, Dinakaran was cross examined along with his ‘friend’ Mallikarjuna and PA Janardhanan, sources state.

They were quizzed about the money trail of the alleged bribe. Also the matter of Dinakaran staying over with Mallikarjuna for around 10 days after an FIR was filed against him, was also brought up during the interrogation.

On Saturday, Dinakaran was given a set of questions by the Delhi Police in connection with the case.

09:23  ‘Aadhaar is very dangerous for the Indian nation’:  “By taking fingerprints, iris scans and other details of citizens, the State is becoming the custodian of its people. The State can use this data according to its whims and fancies, which is not good in a democracy. When the State looks at all the activities of its citizens, it becomes a police State,” says Communist Party of India leader Binoy Viswam, who has moved a petition in the Supreme Court questioning the introduction of Section 139 AA of the IT Act to link Aadhaar cards with PAN cards. Read the interview to Shobha Warrier here.

09:17  CRPF, which lost 25 jawans, is without a full-time chief:  

The Central Reserve Police Force that leads anti-Maoist operations across the country has been headless for almost two months.

The paramilitary wing lost more than two dozen of its men on Monday to an ambush by the communist guerillas in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district- the second attack on the CRPF in the area within 40 days.

“Why is a force of 300,000 personnel headless for two months?” asked Prakash Singh, former director general of BSF. “Where is the leadership for the force? When this government took over, (home minister) Rajnath Singh made a grand announcement about a policy to deal with the situation.

Three years later, where is that policy?” The patrol team of 99 personnel was on a road-sanitisation operation. “The CRPF party had left their camp around 5.30am. While patrolling the road they took a break around 10.30am. That’s the time they noticed some villagers approach them. The villagers had cattle with them and soon moved away. It now appears they were a Maoist patrolling party to assess the number of CRPF personnel and their weapons,” top sources in the ministry of home affairs said. 

09:02  DMK leads bandh in Tamil Nadu today, in support of drought-hit farmers:  

After staging protests in the national capital for 41 days, Tamil Nadu farmers reached Chennai on Tuesday to participate in the state-wide bandh in support of drought-hit farmers. 

Led by the opposition party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham, the strike has been called to pressurise the state government and Centre to fulfill the demands made by the farmers. The ruling AIADMK government, on the other hand, has described the shutdown as politically motivated.

Farmers are demanding a slew of drought-relief measures, including loan waivers for all farmers, inter-linking of rivers, pensions for farmers and the setting up of a Cauvery management board. Many trade unions, farmers bodies, local vegetable bodies and even film stars have pledged solidarity with the farmers, and will participate in the bandh. 

Tamil Nadu farmers had called off their strike in the national capital on Sunday, after meeting Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. Palaniswani, who had ensured the protesters that their demands will be met, confirmed yesterday that he has taken up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

08:51  Army canteens withdraw Patanjali amla juice:  

The Canteen Stores Department, the retailing entity selling consumer goods to the armed forces, has suspended the sale of a batch of Patanjali Ayurvedas amla juice after it failed to clear a laboratory test.

The Haridwar-based ayurveda firm, promoted by yoga guru Ramdev, however, blamed an Uttarakhand government department for the fiasco.

Defence ministry sources said a show cause notice has been served on the company after the juice failed the test carried out at West Bengal Public Health Laboratory in Kolkata.

The sources said that as per procedure, the CSD has immediately suspended the sale of the particular batch and sent a show cause notice to the company to examine the deviations and explain them.

They said further action will be taken on receipt of reply from the firm.

07:59  Dinakaran cracks before cops, confesses to meeting middleman in bribery case:  

AIADMK (Amma) leader TTV Dinakaran has confessed to meeting Sukesh Chandrasekhar, the arrested middleman in the EC bribery case, under the impression that he was a high court judge, police said.

Dinakaran, who is being grilled by the Delhi Police, had so far maintained that did not know Sukesh nor had he met him.

The leader, who is accused of trying to bribe an Election Commission official in a bid to retain the ‘two-leaves’ symbol of AIADMK, however, denied having paid any money to Sukesh in this regard, police said.

On sustained quizzing, Dinakaran said he had met Sukesh, who had posed as a high court judge and sought to help him in the matter, police sources said.

However, he denied paying money to the middleman, the sources said, adding the Crime Branch officers also confronted Dinakaran and Sukesh.

00:25  Trump calls for sanctions against North Korea:  United States President Donald Trump on Monday called for United Nations Security Council sanctions against the nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes of North Korea, terming it as a very big problem.

“The status quo on North Korea is unacceptable. The (UN Security) Council must be prepared to impose additional sanctions on North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programme,” Trump told ambassadors of countries on the UN Security Council during a working luncheon in the White House.

North Korea, he said, ‘is real threat’ to the world.

“It is a big world problem,” he added.

Noting that it has been left unattended for a long time, Trump said it is time to resolve the North Korean problem.

“It is now time to solve the problem,” he said. — PTI