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Godman Rampal arrested after six die in violent stand-off

November 20, 2014

Chandigarh, Nov 20: After weeks of standoff and loss of six lives, self-styled godman Sant Rampal was finally arrested in his fortress-like ashram in the Hisar district of Haryana after the police raided the premises on Wednesday.

In a well-orchestrated strategy, the police stormed the 12-acre ashram around 9 pm on Wednesday after evacuating a majority of the followers who had been camping inside. Rampal was taken into custody in less than 20 minutes after launching the raid.ramla

Rampal will be produced before a local court in Rohtak on Thursday and the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday.

Jubilant scenes were witnessed outside the ashram as several people danced and praised the police for arresting the godman. The arrest is said to have been an outcome of negotiations to ensure that the standoff ended at the earliest. Many of his followers who were stranded inside chose to leave the premises.

Earlier, silence descended on the ashram premises as close to 11,000 followers, some who were forced to camp inside to defend Rampal, walked away from the mayhem.

Police suspected that around 5,000 followers were camped inside the ashram, with several of them refusing to vacate premises, thereby delaying Rampal’s arrest.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar finally broke his silence on Wednesday saying that the High Court order would be upheld and the operation would end with Rampal’s arrest.

At 8:30 am, ashram volunteers handed over bodies of five women and an infant to the district administration. There were no injury marks on the women’s bodies and the cause of death remains to be ascertained through post-mortem, said Director-General of Police S N Vashist. Among them, was a 20-year-old woman, suffering from a heart ailment, who died at hospital in Hisar in the early hours of Wednesday. The infant who died was suffering from congenital jaundice.

Meanwhile, the police on Wednesday booked Rampal on fresh charges of sedition. Besides charges of murder and contempt of court, he now faces charges for waging war against the state, conspiring to commit offences against the state and collecting arms with the intention of waging war against the state.

The police did not enter the ashram on Wednesday maintaining that its first priority was to evacuate those inside. Rampal’s brother, Purshottam Dass, who challenged the police to arrest the godman, was nabbed while trying to escape. At least 270 people from the ashram have been detained and 70 booked, sources said.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

The Civil Aviation Ministry announced an initial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to the dependents of the deceased in the Kozhikode AIE plane crash, while the Kerala government also announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each.

Minister of Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri, who visited the mishap spot on Saturday, said that a detailed probe is already on and the pilot and co-pilot were highly experienced.

He also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the injured and Rs. 50,000 each to those who suffered minor injuries. The other normal compensations would be decided in due course.

Puri said that Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe, aged 59, who commandeered the AIE flight, had a flying experience of 10,848 hours, while co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar, aged 32, had a flying experience of 1,723 hours.

"Deepak was one of the most distinguished and experienced pilots. He had a commanding experience of 6,662 hours and was commander of B-737 aircraft for 4,244 hours. He had also operated to Kozhikode international airport 27 times. He joined AIE in 2013 and prior to that he served with the IAF and HAL. He was a figher pilot and a recipient of prestigious sword of honour and a gold medalist," said Puri.

Puri said that even as the flight slipped down to around 35 feet, a major disaster was averted due to timely rescue operations. Local people played an exemplary role and the fire brigade's timely action of cutting the plane body and rescuing the passengers minimised the casualties, he said.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also said that the local people and all rescue and relief agencies did a well co-ordinated job. The state government would also meet the entire treatment expenses of the injured.

Till Saturday afternoon, the total number of deaths was 18. While 149 were still in hospitals, 23 were discharged.

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News Network
January 31,2020

New Delhi, Jan 31: The central government has decided that pensioners' life certificates will be collected from their doorstep, saving them from hassles of visiting pension disbursing banks.

The service will be charged an amount not exceeding Rs 60, according to a statement issued on Thursday by the Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare (DoPPW).

Every year a pensioner is required to give proof of him being alive to banks in order to ensure continued pension. These certificates can be submitted online or by visiting the bank.

"The department has taken a landmark step to make life easier for senior citizens to submit their annual life certificate for continued pension," it said.

Directions have been issued to all pension disbursing banks to send SMS or emails to all their pensioners on October 24, November 1, November 15 and November 25 every year reminding them to submit their annual life certificates by November 30, the statement said.

"The bank in addition will also ask such pensioners through SMS/email as to whether they are interested in submission of life certificate through a chargeable doorstep service, the charge not exceeding Rs 60, it said.

The department for stricter monitoring and in order to ensure that no pensioners are left out has also directed the banks to make an exception list on December 1 every year of those pensioners who fail to submit their life certificate and issue another SMS or email to them for submitting it.

The Central Pension Processing Cells (CPPC) of the pension disbursing banks shall now be duty bound to submit a report to the DoPPW in January, February and March.

The report will indicate the total number of pensioners who have not given their life certificate along with a breakup of the certificates submitted physically and through digital means, the statement said.

This is a landmark step from the side of the central government showing due care for pensioners, it said.

This step is in addition to the order issued in July last year, vide which all pensioners aged 80 years and above have been given an exclusive window to submit their life certificate w.e.f. 1st October every year instead of 1st November every year, the statement added.

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News Network
January 1,2020

Jan 1: Two army personnel were killed in a gunfight with heavily-armed Pakistani infiltrators along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on Wednesday, officials said.

The infiltrators were intercepted in the Khari Thrayat forest when they were trying to sneak into India from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), they said.

"Two army soldiers martyred during cordon and search operation in Nowshera sector. The operation is still in progress and further details are awaited," Jammu-based Indian Army Public Relations Officer (PRO) Lt Col Devender Anand said in a statement.

The search operation was launched following information about the movement of suspected terrorists, the officials said.

The infiltrators opened fire on the troops and during a fierce gunfight, the two soldiers were killed, they said.

The officials said a massive operation is on in the area.

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