EC bars Guj BJP from using 'Pappu' in electronic advertisement

Kanpur, Jul 10: Kanpur encounter main accused Vikas Dubey, who was injured in an encounter with the police, died on Friday, the police said.

"Gangster Vikas Dubey arrested for killing eight policemen is dead," confirmed the police.

According to SP Kanpur West Anil Kumar, gangster Vikas Dubey attempted to flee after the car overturned. Dubey attempted to flee by snatching pistol of the injured policemen. However, he was shot in the retaliatory firing.

"Vikas Dubey attempted to flee by snatching pistol of the injured policemen after the car overturned. Police tried to make him surrender, during which he fired at the policemen. He was injured in retaliatory firing by police. He was later rushed to the hospital," SP Kanpur West told reporters here.

Dubey, the main accused in the Kanpur encounter was arrested by the police in Ujjain on Thursday morning. He was on the run for the last six days and had come to Ujjain to offer prayers at Temple, where he was identified by a security guard at the shrine.

The gangster is the main accused in the encounter that took place in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur last week, in which a group of assailants allegedly opened fire on a police team, which had gone to arrest Dubey. Eight police personnel were killed in the encounter.

Dubey managed to escape after the killing.  The Uttar Pradesh police launched a hunt for him and raised the bounty on him to Rs 5 lakh.

Bahua Dubey and Prabhat Mishra, close aides of the main accused, were killed in separate encounters in Etawah and Kanpur respectively, on Thursday.

The main accused's other aide Shyamu Bajpai was arrested by the Chaubeypur police following an encounter. He carried a reward of Rs 25,000, the police informed on Wednesday. Earlier the same day, Uttar Pradesh's Special Task Force (STF) gunned down Vikas Dubey's close aide Amar Dubey in Hamirpur district.

Lucknow, Jun 20: A media body on Saturday described as "an act of intimidation" the filing of an FIR in Uttar Pradesh against a journalist over a report on the impact of the lockdown on a village, saying it was part of an "established pattern" of harassment of independent scribes.

In a statement, the Media Foundation put on record its strong protest over the FIR filed by the Uttar Pradesh government against Supriya Sharma, executive editor of news portal Scroll.in.

The case was filed against Sharma for allegedly misrepresenting facts in a report on the impact of the lockdown in a village adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, police sources had said on Thursday.

The FIR against Sharma and the Scroll editor-in-chief is an "an act of intimidation and a case of abuse of process", intended to discourage honest and critical reporting, the Media Foundation said.

The Media Foundation was started in 1979 with the aim of upholding freedom of speech, expression and information.

The FIR against Sharma is only the latest instance of similar coercive actions against professional journalists, part of "an established pattern of harassment and humiliation of independent journalists", it said,

"It is an unacceptable encroachment on press freedom," said the foundation, whose chairperson is veteran journalist Harish Khare.

The Media Foundation called upon the judiciary, and central and state governments to uphold the spirit of freedom of speech and expression as guaranteed in the Constitution.

Ahmedabad, June 6: Rattled by resignations of three MLAs ahead of the June 19 Rajya Sabha polls, the Congress in Gujarat on Saturday shifted several of its legislators to resorts and bungalows near their constituencies to thwart any "poaching" bid, a party leader said.

With the resignations of Akshay Patel and Jitu Chaudhary on June 3 and that of Brijesh Merja on June 5, the Congress' strength in the 182-member House has been reduced to 65.

The effective strength of the House, however, stands at 172 as of now as ten seats are currently vacant - two due to court cases and the rest because of resignations.

While several MLAs from north Gujarat were shifted to a resort near Ambaji in Banaskantha district, those from south and Central Gujarat were moved to private bungalows in Anand, Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said, adding that legislators from Saurashtra region were shifted to a resort in Rajkot.