Illicit liquor seized from Uppala

Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha President Ranjit Bachchan was shot dead on Sunday because of an extra-marital relationship of his second wife.

Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujit Pandey said at a press conference here on Thursday that Ranjit Bachchan's second wife Smriti Srivastava, her paramour Dipendra and driver Sanjit Gautam have been arrested in connection with the case. All three were held on Thursday, while the shooter -- Jitendra -- is yet to be arrested.

Pandey said that Smriti wanted a divorce from Ranjit Bachchan and their case was pending in the family court since 2016. While she was keen to marry Dipendra, Ranjit Bachchan was unwilling to leave her.

"On January 17, Ranjit had met Smriti and even slapped her, which became the provocation for the murder," he said.

The Police Commissioner said that during investigation, the police had probed all possible angles, including a terror angle.

"We found there were no financial disputes, no property disputes and no terror angle to the case. It emerged that Smriti had an affair with Dipendra and wanted to leave Ranjit Bachchan, who had four criminal cases against him. Through technical and electronic surveillance, we found the connection between Smriti, Dipendra, driver Sanjit and the shooter Jitendra," he said.

Ranjeet Bachchan, 40, who had founded the Vishwa Hindu Mahasabha, was shot in the head on Sunday morning while his brother Aditya Srivastava was injured in the attack by the assailant who also snatched their mobile phones.

The attacker had covered himself in a shawl and was on foot. The police had released CCTV footages showing a suspect and announced a cash reward of Rs 50,000 for providing information.

Four police personnel, including a sub-inspector, were suspended for alleged laxity and a case was registered at the Hazratganj po

Thane, Apr 24: A 34-year-old man was allegedly attacked on suspicion of being a COVID-19 patient and died after falling into a gutter during the assault in Kalyan town of Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Friday.

The incident took place on Wednesday morning, when Ganesh Gupta had stepped out of his home to purchase some essentials amid the COVID-19 lockdown, an official said.

On noticing some policemen manning the street, the victim took an alternate route, where a few passersby assaulted him after he coughed while walking, he said.

The men suspected him of being a COVID-19 patient and attacked him, causing him to fall into a gutter and die, the official said.

The deceased's body was sent for post-mortem and a case of accidental death has been registered as of now, the station house officer of the Khadakpada police station said.

New Delhi, Jul 17: The first FIR against Volkswagen and Audi in India for installing cheat devices in their cars to misrepresent emissions has been filed in Noida.

The FIR was filed by Noida resident Aniljit Singh against the top officials of Volkswagen and Audi in India and their headquarters in Germany. These include Rahil Ansari, Brand Director, Audi India, Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head, Audi India, and Bram Schot, Chairman, Audi AG.

The FIR reviewed by media agency cites forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The complaint has cited the global emissions scandal where VW was found to be installing a cheat device in its cars, in the absence of which, the cars produced 10-40 times emissions beyond the permissible limits.

The complainant said that in 2018 he had purchased seven Audi cars worth crores of rupees. At the time of taking the delivery, the complainant said that he inquired if the cheat devices were installed in India and he was told by the company that they were not, as in India's emission norms were not as stringent and the country being a growing market for Audi, no such device was implanted.

The complaint said that the authorities in India observed that Audi cars' emissions for nitrogen oxide were 5-8 times the permissible limits and after the National Green Tribunal imposed a penalty of Rs 500 crore on VW, the complainant realised that he had been duped of his hard earned money.

He alleged that the accused persons had misrepresented the complainant by forging the documents and devices and caused wrongful gains to themselves and wrongful losses to the complainant. These officials had made wrong records to capture the market, with malafide intent and under a pre-planned conspiracy had induced and defrauded the complainant.

The accused persons are guilty of cheating the customers and have induced the complainant to part with hard earned money for sub-standard cars. The accused are also guilty of forging the documents on which they had sought various clearances.

The complainant has demanded that the allegations may be thoroughly investigated by a senior official.