Class 9 girl allegedly raped by principal, 2 teachers & 15 classmates in Bihar
A class 9 student of a private school in Saran district of Bihar on Friday alleged that she was gang-raped by 18 persons from her school over the last eight months. The girl, in her complaint to the police, said that she was blackmailed and gang-raped by the principal, two teachers and 15 students for the last seven months, ever since her father went to jail. According to her complaint, three students gang-raped her in the toilet at the school last year, filming the entire incident. They blackmailed her with the video into not reporting the incident, however, a few days later, the alleged rapists shared the video with other school friends, the FIR said. Gradually it reached a few teachers and the principal, and she was blackmailed for sex, the girl alleged.
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West Bengal govt cuts down luxury expenditure of ministers & officials
In a move to cut the costs incurred by the state government and repay loans, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced her plan to cut down expenses of various departments. She was speaking at an administrative meeting of the Trinamool Congress on Thursday. Banerjee made various recommendations like “one person, one vehicle” policy, avoiding frequent travel of officials to Delhi and other states, holding conferences and meetings at star hotels, using video conferencing, instead of calling district officials to Kolkata, restrictions on the creation of new posts, purchase of new vehicles and offering expensive gifts. “We are spending Rs 47,000 crore every year only towards repayment of old loans. The Centre has curtailed funds under many schemes. So, we must control expenditure and use the savings for public welfare,” she said.
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Three dead, one feared drowned at Juhu beach in Mumbai
Three boys were found dead and one other is feared drowned at Juhu beach in Mumbai after a group of five ventured into the sea for a swim on Thursday evening, police said. Helicopters of the navy and the coast guard and divers braving powerful waves continued to search for a boy still missing. The incident occurred when seven friends, Nazir Ghanchi, 18, Fardeen Saudagar, 17, Sohel Khan, 17, Wasim Khan, 22, Faisal Shaikh, 17, Avesh Shaikh, 17, and Adil Shaikh, 21, all residents of Gilbert Hill area in Andheri, had gone to Juhu beach on Thursday. Wasim Khan was rescued by lifeguards, the body of one of the boys was recovered on Thursday night, while two others were recovered on Friday morning and search operation is still on for the one missing. "One each Navy and Coast Guard Chetak has taken off from INS Shikra, Colaba around 0800 hrs to continue the search and rescue of the missing boys off Juhu," a Defence spokesperson said in a release.
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CBI arrests two retired Bank of India officials in Rs 2,654 crore fraud case
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested two senior retired officials of the Bank of India in connection with the Rs 2,654 crore fraud by Gujarat based Diamond Power Infrastructure Ltd (DPIL). The arrested officials have been identified as retired General Manager V V Agnihotri and retired Deputy General Manager P K Srivastava. DPIL promoters Suresh Bhatnagar and his sons Amit Bhatnagar and Sumit Bhatnagar had allegedly cheated a consortium of 11 banks following which the CBI had filed an FIR in April 2018. The company had allegedly availed loans despite being named in the RBI’s defaulters’ list & the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) caution list. As per the CBI officials, this could not have been possible without the involvement of bank officials.
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Zakir Naik is our permanent resident, will not deport him: Malaysia PM
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Friday that controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik will not be deported to India. Addressing a press conference, Mohamad said, Naik would not be sent back as long as he was not creating any problem in the country. Zakir, who is the founder of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), left India in 2016 for Malaysia, where he was granted permanent residency. He is wanted in India for allegedly conducting terror-related activities and hate speech. “As long as he is not creating any problem, we will not deport him because he has been given permanent residency status,” Mahathir was quoted as saying by AFP.
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Andhra hands over 3 lakh houses to poor, all registered in women’s names
The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday handed over more than 3 lakh houses to eligible beneficiaries in 13 districts of the state. A majority of the beneficiaries are BCs, STs and SCs. Significantly, all the houses have been registered in the name of the woman of the family. The government on Thursday handed over keys to 3,03,164 houses, which were constructed in 2017-18 at a cost of Rs 3,746 crore. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held a symbolic “housewarming” programme on Thursday morning for all the houses and said that state government is giving housing as a gift to women to enhance their respect in society. Rural Housing Minister Kalava Srinivasulu said the government was able to keep the scheme corruption-free and transparent through online payments via National Payments Corporation of India.
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Thailand Cave Rescue: Diver dies due to lack of oxygen; Elon Musk offers help
The massive operation inside and around Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai province suffered its first fatality on Friday when a former Thai navy SEAL passed out underwater on an overnight mission. 12 boys of a football team and their coach went exploring and were locked up in a cave 13 days ago. Since then, continuous rescue operations are on to bring them out. Authorities have been racing to pump out water from the cave before more storms hit the region in the coming days and send water levels rising again. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has also offered his help to rescue the kids safely. ‘SpaceX & Boring Co engineers headed to Thailand tomorrow to see if we can be helpful to govt. There are probably many complexities that are hard to appreciate without being there in person’, his tweet read. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has even invited the Thai boys' football team trapped in a cave to the World Cup final, as messages of support poured in from top players.
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CM Kejriwal, Delhi L-G meet for first-time post SC judgment
Two days after SC ruled that Lt Governor was bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal met Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Friday to find a way to work together sans the disruptions. This was their first meeting post the SC verdict, which gave primacy to the democratically elected government. Post the meeting, Baijal said he assured the CM of his cooperation in the interest of "good governance and overall development of Delhi". Kejriwal suggested to Baijal that they sit face to face to resolve their differences over the implications of the Supreme Court verdict. Incumbent Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Facebook post mentioned, "all the three institutions, the elected government, the L-G and the central government must work in harmony keeping the interest of the people and the national capital in mind.”
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11 CPM workers in Kerala sentenced to life for murdering BJP worker
The Thalassery additional district sessions court on Thursday awarded life sentence to 11 Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers for murdering a BJP worker at Chittariparambu, near Koothuparambu, in Kannur district in 2008. 32-year-old BJP activist and an autorickshaw driver A Mahesh was attacked and murdered by the CPM workers while he was waiting for passengers. The motive behind the murder was anger over Mahesh quitting CPM and joining BJP, as per media reports. The 11 CPM workers who have been convicted are P Dhanesh (36), N Uthaman (40), O Babu (40), Chemmeri Prakashan (42), Manoli Umesh (40), local secretary V Ranjith (40), N Mukesh (32), Karat Purushothaman (52), C Sunesh (32), M Suraj (34) and V Shiju (37). Additional district and sessions judge R.L. Baiju has also ordered them to pay a fine of ₹50,000 each. An amount of ₹3 lakh would be given to the family of the victim.
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