Lucknow, May 22 (IANS) A polling officer at a booth in Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency has been suspended for allegedly taking selfies with his mobile phone while photographing voters on the day of polling two days ago, a top polling officer said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said that Ashish Kumar Arya, an assistant teacher at Girls’ Primary School Umri in Muskara block of Hamirpur district was posted as a polling officer in polling station 112 of Shri Vidya Mandir Inter College in Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat.

In a clear violation of the instructions of the Election Commission (EC), Arya was suspended for inappropriate conduct.

Taking cognisance of the violation of EC’s directives, the District Basic Education Officer, Hamirpur, suspended Arya and posted him to Block Resource Centre, Muskara, he said.

–IANS

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Agra, May 22 (IANS) The body of Yogi Chaitanya Nath, the head priest of Lal Nath Samadhi Math, was exhumed on Tuesday from his ‘samadhi’ (burial) by police for post-mortem, the police said.

The body was exhumed nearly 11 days after his death when his family members alleged foul play in his death and submitted an application to the Additional Police Commissioner Keshav Chaudhary.

Nath, who had been serving the math for five years, died on May 10.

His body lay in a room for two days and it was found when a foul smell started emanating.

He was buried at the temple premises on Agra Cantt Station Road under Sadar police limits.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Hemant Kumar said, “A postmortem will be conducted to ascertain the cause of death. The matter is being investigated in detail, given claims of missing belongings and unauthorised use of the yogi’s mobile and ATM card after his demise.”

Nath’s brother Munna Mishra alleged, “After my brother’s suspicious death, other seers buried him in a ‘samadhi’. Later, I came to know that his body was found in a pool of blood. His mobile phone, ATM card, and other belongings were missing. It was found by the bank that money was withdrawn using the ATM card even after his death. I tracked the mobile location to Delhi and Pratapgarh.”

Mishra approached Agra police for justice and on the latter’s orders, a team from Sadar police station was constituted to investigate the case.

Nath’s body was exhumed in the presence of ACPs, Hemant Kumar and Sayyad Areeb Ahmed.

The seer was a disciple of ‘Nath Sampradaya’.

–IANS

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Kannauj (Uttar Pradesh), May 22 (IANS) A 17-year-old girl has been detained for allegedly murdering her father by slitting his throat with the help of her alleged lover and then attempting to kill other family members here in Kannauj district, the police said.

The police said that during preliminary interrogation, the girl confessed to the crime as her family was against her affair.

The 50-year-old deceased was posted as a village development officer in the district.

A few days ago, he came to know about his daughter’s affair, after which he scolded her.

Frustrated by the restrictions placed on her, the girl and her lover decided to kill the entire family.

“On Monday night, the girl mixed poison in the food. When everyone in the family became unconscious after eating it, the girl called her boyfriend to her house over the phone. Thereafter, the girl slit her father’s throat with a saw blade. After this, they attacked the girl’s brother with a hammer,” the police added.

The neighbours reached the girl’s house on hearing the screams and alerted the police.

The girl’s brother told the investigators that his sister and her alleged lover slit their father’s throat with a saw blade and then attacked him with a hammer.

The girl’s brother tried to grab her, but the latter bit him.

He then shouted for help.

The village locals admitted the father and son to the hospital, where the doctors declared the father dead on Tuesday morning.

Kannauj Superintendent of Police, Amit Kumar Anand, said on Wednesday, “The matter is being investigated. Prima facie the crime is related to the girl’s love affair.”

The girl and her alleged lover also fed food to her pet dog after mixing intoxicants. Even the dog did not regain consciousness till morning.

Other members of the family are undergoing treatment in the hospital, police said.

–IANS

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Kanpur, May 22 (IANS) A clerical blunder delayed a 78-year-old woman’s release from a correction home in Kanpur for two years, even after Uttar Pradesh government ordered her release following the remission of her life sentence in a dowry death case.

Kanpur District Magistrate Rakesh Kumar Singh said, “Suspension of the clerk has been recommended and personal bond (of Rs 50,000) has been sent to Nari Niketan, Lucknow, for acceptance and woman’s release.”

Governor Anandiben Patel accepted Naubasta resident Sumitra’s remission petition and issued a release order in 2022.

Unaware of the process to file a bond, district probation counter assistant Ashish Kumar kept the file with himself for 10 months instead of forwarding it to the District Magistrate for approval.

Sumitra and her family members were sentenced to life term in a dowry death case. Her husband died in prison, while son Santosh remains in jail.

–IANS

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New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) In the wake of the assault on AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal, Delhi Lt Governor V.K. Saxena on Tuesday said that if such an incident happened in any other Chief Minister’s residence, external forces with vested interests, inimical to India, would have unleashed a scathing global narrative around women safety in the country.

“I have been deeply distressed over the unfolding media narrative over the last few days on the issue of alleged assault on AAP MP Maliwal at the residence of the Chief Minister, when she went there to meet him all alone. Yesterday, she called me out of sheer anguish, describing at length her traumatic experience, and the subsequent intimidation and shaming that she is being subjected to by her own colleagues. She also expressed concerns over reported tampering of evidence and coercion against her,” he said.

Saxena said that although Maliwal has been “vociferous, hostile and blatantly partisan” towards him and his office, often criticising him unjustifiably, any physical violence and hounding perpetrated on her is inexcusable and unacceptable.

“It is most disturbing to note that the alleged scene of the crime was the drawing room of the Chief Minister, even while he was present in the house, and the same was carried out by his closest aide on a lady who was alone,” he said.

The LG said that her fellow Rajya Sabha member confirmed her narrative in full media glare, and assured that the CM would take firm action against his aide – the culprit.

“Subsequently, a total U-turn was done in the matter, apparently at the behest of the highest functionary. This too is inexplicable and baffling. I would have expected that at least for the sake of propriety, my CM would have come clean, rather than being evasive and dodgy. His deafening silence speaks volumes of his stance on the safety of women,” he said, adding that such shameful incidents and the insensitive and conspiratorial contemptuous government response, on an issue of women’s safety, tarnishes India’s image worldwide.

“Delhi Police is investigating the matter and I assure that the matter will be brought to its logical conclusion,” the LG added.

Responding to the LG, AAP leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj raised the issue of the women wrestlers who were protesting against then WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

“Saxena Saab (Delhi LG) Perhaps you have forgotten, the wrestler daughters who won medals for the country were sitting on a ‘dharna’ at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. They were sitting in the sun and rain”, he said in a post in Hindi on X.

“They had to file an FIR that BJP MP Brij Bhushan had repeatedly sexually exploited them. Then the Delhi Police under you did not even register an FIR. Tell me why it was not registered? The FIR was only registered after the orders of the Supreme Court…”

“But despite the case under Section 354, the BJP MP was not arrested even for a day. Delhi Police is under you, tell me why he was not arrested? Why did you remain silent on the whole issue? Why didn’t you go to meet him? Then were you not worried about the international image of Delhi and India? The police under your command brutally beat these daughters at midnight. Tell me what action you took? The same night Swati Maliwal was also dragged on the road by the police. Tell me what action you took? ‘Thoda girebaan mein jhankiye’ (Introspect on your actions),” he added.

–IANS

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