ALLEGED BJP AGENTS CAUGHT BRIBING TRS MLAS TO LEAVE PARTY
The Telangana Police have arrested four people on the allegation of being the BJP agents to bribe the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) legislatures to quit the party ahead of the Munugode bypoll. The police are said to have seized a huge amount from a farmhouse on the outskirts of Hyderabad which was meant to be given to the TRS MLAs for the said purpose during a raid on Wednesday (October 26) night. The Police said that the MLAs claimed they were being lured to quit the party by offering money. Police said that they have arrested Delhi-based Sateish Sharma, a priest at a temple in Haryana’s Faridabad, a seer from Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh; and Nandakumar, a Hyderabad-based businessman, who were present at the farmhouse during the raid. According to reports, cash to the tune of Rs 15 crore was seized from a car at the farmhouse and the accused were in touch with MLAs Pilot Rohith Reddy, B Harshvardhan Reddy, G Balraju, and Rega Kantha Rao. Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Ravindra said that the MLAs told the police that they were offered money, work contracts, and positions to rebel against the ruling party.
COMMUNAL CLASHES ERUPT IN VADODARA ON DIWALI NIGHT
Communal clashes broke out on Diwali night in Vadodara and till Tuesday (October 25) morning, the police have rounded up at least a dozen rioters while the process of identifying them is currently underway. The clashes erupted on Monday night in the city’s Panigate area. Addressing the local media, Vadodara Deputy Commissioner of Police, Yaspal Jaganiya said: “The exact reason for the violence is yet to be ascertained. The moment police learnt of the incident, personnel from across the city were moved to the spot and the situation was brought under control. A petrol bomb was hurled at the police from the terrace of the house, one person is held in this regard.”
NEWLY INAUGURATED MIYA MUSEUM SEALED IN ASSAM
Assam’s Golpara district administration on October 25 sealed the newly inaugurated Miya museum after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the police will probe the source of funding. The private Museum was inaugurated on 23 October at Dapkarbhita in the Lakhipur area of Goalpara district. The notification states, “As per the Direction of DC Goaplara this PMAY-G house of Mohar Ali, S/O- Somesh Ali of Village Dapkarbhita is hereby sealed until further order.” Those associated with setting up the “Miya Museum” will have to answer the government, failing which legal action would be initiated against them, Sarma said. The BJP leaders in Assam have demanded to immediately shut down the museum. Miya community comprises Bengal-origin Muslims of the state who settled in modern-day Assam in the late 1890s after they were brought by the British for commercial farming. ‘Miya’ was a pejorative term which is now used by stakeholders in the community to reclaim its original meaning.
OVER 900 GUJARAT GOVT., POLICE OFFICIALS TRANSFERRED
Over 900 police and administrative officials have been transferred in Gujarat days after the Chief Secretary of the poll-bound State was pulled up by the Election Commission of India (EC) for not following its directive in this regard. On October 21, the EC had written to the Gujarat Chief Secretary and its police chief demanding an explanation over why it had not received compliance reports regarding the transfer of officials directly connected with the conduct of the soon-to-be held Assembly elections in the State. According to norms, officers directly connected with the conduct of polls in a State or Union Territory cannot be posted in their home districts or postings where they have served for a considerably long period during elections. The EC also observed that 51 such officers are yet to be moved and directed the Chief Secretary to ensure that these remaining officers, including six senior IPS officials, be asked to report to their respective headquarters
DALIT MAN THRASHED, TONSURED FOR ‘STEALING’ TOILET SEAT
A 30-year-old Dalit man was allegedly tied to an electric pole, thrashed, tonsured, and his face blackened by three men on the suspicion of stealing a toilet seat in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on October 23. All the accused, including a local BJP leader, have been arrested, they said. The incident, which took place in Pure Hind Singh village under the Hardia police station area, came to the fore after its purported video surfaced on social media. In the video, the Dalit man identified as Rajesh Kumar, a daily wager, is seen being thrashed and paraded by the accused. Police lodged an FIR against three persons in the case and initiated investigations. Additional Superintendent of police Ashok Kumar said an FIR under relevant sections of IPC and SC/ST Act against local BJP leader Radheshyam Mishra, Saroj alias Renu Vajpai and Rakesh Tiwari was lodged.
KERALA GUV ISSUES NOTICE TO 9 VCS AS THEY REFUSE TO RESIGN
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on October 24 issued show cause notices to nine Vice Chancellors as they refuse to submit resignation letters as per his earlier directive. “Now, they have refused to resign. Now formal notices have been issued,” Khan said and added that Vice Chancellors have been given time till November 3 to respond. For the uninitiated, Kerala Governor in an earlier order asked Vice-Chancellors of the University of Kerala, Mahatma Gandhi University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kannur University, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, University of Calicut and Thunachath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University have been to resign from their posts. The order was issued upholding the Supreme Court order which quashed the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. ‘They want to appoint RSS workers there & control the higher education system so that they are able to propagate Hindutva ideology in educational institutions. It’ll be challenged in court as Constitution doesn’t permit Governor to issue any such order’: CPI leader Sitaram Yechury said in a tweet.
‘BULLI BAI’ APP VICTIM ELECTED NEW VP OF TISS UNION
Nidha Parveen, 22, was elected as the new vice-president of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) ten months after her name surfaced as one of 100 Muslim women whose details were made available on Bulli Bai, which allowed users to participate in their “auction”. Before enrolling at TISS to pursue a postgraduate degree at the Centre for Criminology and Justice at the institute’s School of Social Work, Parveen, a native of Kannur, Kerala, studied at Delhi University and participated in the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)/National Register of Citizens (NRC) movement in 2019. Parveen is a national executive member of the Fraternity Movement, the students’ wing of the Welfare Party of India. She is also the president of Fraternity TISS, where they have a membership of just 12 students on campus. Despite that, she was able to bag 676 votes over her main opponents, Progressive Students Federation and SATH (Students’ Association for Transformation and Harmony) who secured 393 and 221 votes respectively, and get elected as the new vice-president. Parveen ran for election as a member of an alliance created by The Ambedkarite Students’ Association (ASA).