India’s first Olympian swimmer Mehboob Khan no more

News Network
October 16, 2017

Guntur, Oct 16: Mehboob Shamsher Khan, India’s first Olympian swimmer, passed away due to cardiac arrest at his native village of Kaithepalle in Repalle Mandal of Guntur district on Sunday at the age of 92 years.

He was national hero in the year 1956 when he became first Indian swimmer to finish fifth at the Melbourne Olympics. He is survived by two sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren.

Shamsher Khan ironically lived in utter poverty till his death despite serving in the Indian army for nearly 24 years and retiring in the rank of Subedar.

Shamsher Khan had joined the Army in 1946 and served in two crucial wars — against China in 1962 and Pakistan in 1973. He was inducted into the Madras Engineer Group in Bengaluru.

In interviews he explained his swimming training as totally “local” and “rural.” He said that he initially learnt to swim with buffaloes at the village pond and got the chance to get trained after joining the Army. He set a national record in the 200 metres butterfly in 1954 and broke all records at the national meet in 1955.

Khan got place on the Olympic swimming team with sheer performance which he repeated in Melbourne. Recalling his experience, he had said that the Indian government arranged only air fare to Melbourne and that he got a loan of Rs 300 from the Army to meet his costs during the Olympics. He further explained in interviews that his salary was only Rs 56 per month and that the loan amount was deducted without any subsidy, rebate or reduction.

Shamsher Khan’s elder son Sajid Vali Khan is serving the Indian army and he was living with his younger son Ali Khan in his native place. Family members stated that Shamsher Khan suffered a heart attack few years ago and was on medication.

A.P. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and YSR Congress president Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy expressed grief and sorrow over Shamsher Khan’s demise and praised his services.

Comments

Rahim
 - 
Monday, 16 Oct 2017

We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return.

Ibrahim
 - 
Monday, 16 Oct 2017

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un

well wisher
 - 
Monday, 16 Oct 2017

Why and for what reason the history of such great swimmers was kept under carpet.

Abdul
 - 
Monday, 16 Oct 2017

Inna Lillahi Wa Inna ilahi Rajihoon.......

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News Network
February 4,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 4: The CBI has booked Karnataka cadre senior IPS officers Hemant Nimbalkar and Ajay Hilori along with eight others in connection with Rs 4,000-crore I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam in which gullible investors were allegedly cheated in the name of Islamic banking, officials said on Tuesday.

The move came after the CBI received an approval from the Karnataka government to proceed with investigation into alleged role of 1998-batch IPS officer Nimbalkar and 2008-batch IPS officer Hilori, they said.

Along with the two officers, the agency has also named the company IMA, its founder Mansoor Khan and others in the case.

The CBI had approached the state government seeking permission to proceed against the two officers who are in senior positions in the Karnataka Police and allegedly helped IMA founder Masoor Khan, they said.

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Shodhan Prasad
May 14,2020

Dubai: The father of a 16-year old girl who came on a visit visa to the UAE to visit him is desperate for help as she has been hospitalised, even as he has been rendered jobless.

On February 6, Amber D’Couto flew into Dubai from Mangaluru, India, along with her older sister, Alison, 19. The girls wanted to visit their dad Vivian D’Couto who was working in an automobile company at Jebel Ali.

The father was overjoyed to meet his girls until things took an ugly turn.

Two months into her stay, Amber fell seriously ill, even as D’Couto was served a termination letter by his company.

D’Couto said his daughter, a Grade 10 student, was perfectly healthly but suddenly developed high fever and began vomiting. She was rushed to a private hospital in Qusais which could not accommodate her because of the ongoing COVID-19 situation.

On April 30, she was admitted to another private hospital in the same area. After testing negative for COVID-19 thrice, she was diagnosed with acute pancreatis and Rheumatoid fever.

While the girl remains in hospital, the bill has spiralled to over Dh50,000, D’Couto said, adding that without a job now, he had no means to pay the huge amount.

“Amber is a very sweet child and a very bright student. She was living a very healthy life prior to coming to Dubai. But she is so ill now and under round-the-clock vigil in the ICU. The treatment for her condition is very specific and costly.”

A worried man, he said: “My daughter was on a visit visa and she had no insurance. We appeal to compassionate people to help us out in this difficult hour. Due to the current situation, I have lost my job and I am unable to pay for her medical expenses. Her condition has not stabilised yet and I am taking each day as it comes. I trust the doctors to help her recover, and we hope to be repatriated to India at the earliest so she can get further medical care.”

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News Network
January 21,2020

Kochi, Jan 21: Eight tourists from Kerala were found dead in a resort at Daman in Makwanpur district of Nepal, reports said. The dead include a couple and four minor children.

The deceased were identified as Praveen Kumar Nair (39), Saranya (34), Ranjith Kumar T.B (39), Indu Ranjith (34), Sreebhadra (9), Abhinav Soorya (9), Abhi Nair (7) and Vaishnav Ranjith (2).

The deceased are from Chengottukonam in Thiruvananthapuram and Kundamangalam in Kozhikode. Praveen, a travel enthusiast hailing from Chengottukonam, went on the Nepal trip with his wife, three children and friends from Kochi, last week.

 “They were using a gas heater in the room. Suffocation might have caused their death,” said superintendent of police Sushil Singh Rathore of the District Police Office in Makwanpur, news agencies reported.

According to newspaper reports here, the deaths occurred at a resort named Everest Panorama. They were airlifted to HAMS hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival, superintendent of police Sushil Singh Rathaur said.

They were part of a group of 15 people travelling from Kerala to Pokhara, a popular mountain tourist destination, The Himalayan Times reported.

They were on their way back home and stayed at Everest Panorama resort in Daman in Makawanpur district on Monday night.

The tourists are suspected to have died of asphyxiation after turning on the gas heater and shutting all the windows to keep warm.  Hotel staff opened the room using duplicate keys as there was no response from the rooms when the other members of the group went to check on them.

According to the manager of the resort, the guests stayed in a room and turned on a gas heater to keep themselves warm. Although they had booked a total of four suites, eight of them stayed in a room, the manager said, adding that all the windows and the door of the room were bolted from inside.

“All arrangements have been made to bring the bodies to Kerala at the earliest. The Union government is coordinating with the Indian Embassy in Nepal. A doctor from the Indian embassy will be present during the post mortem. Other members of the group are being brought to Kathmandu by road,” said Union minister V Muraleedharan.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that NORKA will coordinate with Nepal authorities to bring dead bodies.

 “Embassy officials are at the government hospital where a post mortem is being done. Formalities will be completed at the earliest and arrangements are in place to bring dead bodies by Wednesday evening. State government is in constant contact with Nepal authorities,” said Kadakampally Surendran, tourism minister.

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