Caught on camera: Arrested IPS?officer roams free

April 30, 2013
Ahmedabad, Apr 30: An accused in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case and senior Gujarat IPS officer Rajkumar Pandian courted controversy yet again when on Tuesday a local news channel caught him on tape moving around without a police escort and spending a night at home, while he was supposed to be in judicial custody.

cameraPandian, a 1996 batch suspended IPS officer, was arrested in 2007 for his alleged involvement in the fake encounter case.

About six months ago he was shifted to Mumbai jail after the Supreme Court directed that the trial of the case be held outside Gujarat. On Sunday evening, Pandian had arrived in Ahmedabad for a hearing in another fake encounter case of Tulsiram Prajapati.

Crew of local news channel caught him taking a private car from the railway station and moving to the government circuit house where he was supposed to be officially put up for the night. However, from the circuit house, Pandian was caught on tape taking the same private car and moving towards his home in the Prahladnagar area.

The officer ostensibly spent the night at his home. On Monday morning when he left his home and took the same private car, he was intercepted by the television crew. The officer panicked and fled from the spot. He was seen later at the local court with the police escort. Though there have been allegations in the past that police officers arrested in fake encounter cases were being given “VIP” treatment, this is for the first time such an act has been caught on tape.

The incident comes close on the heels of the CBI accusing the Gujarat government of shielding yet another fake encounter case accused. The bureau is expected to move the CBI?special court on Tuesday seeking an arrest warrant for senior IPS officer and ADG, State CID, P P Pande for his alleged involvement in the Ishrat Jehan fake encounter case. Earlier, a CBI court in Ahmedabad had rejected its plea for the arrest warrant.

The CBI had told the court that despite two summons, the officer had failed to turn up and now was evading the CBI. The investigating agency could also complain against the state government for shielding Pande.

The senior officer has been on sick leave since the time reports about his impending arrest started doing the rounds. The state government had claimed that the officer was on sick leave and it had no idea about his whereabouts.

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August 8,2020

New Delhi, Aug 8: The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Friday directed the governments of four states -- Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, to analyse the factors driving the high COVID-19 mortality and devise ways and means to reduce the mortality.

Apart from the higher case mortality, these states account for 17 per cent of India's active cases, high daily new cases, low tests per million, and high confirmation percentage.

In a high-level virtual meeting, Bhushan advised state administrations to adhere to measures suggested by central advisories and guidelines to prevent and reduce mortality due to coronavirus infection.

According to the health ministry, 16 districts in these four states are reporting maximum virus fatalities. It includes -- Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat; Belagavi, Bengaluru urban, Kalaburagi and Udupi in Karnataka; Chennai, Kanchipuram, Ranipet, Theni, Thiruvallur, Tiruchirappalli, Tuticorin and Virudhnagar in Tamil Nadu; and Hyderabad and Medchal-Malkajgiri in Telangana respectively.

"The districts were advised to ensure that the advisories, guidelines and clinical treatment protocols issued by the Health Ministry are adopted and effectively implemented to reduce the mortality among COVID-19 patients and other preventable deaths among all sections of the people, particularly those with co-morbidities, pregnant women, the elderly and children," said the health ministry official.

"States were advised to ensure optimum capacity utilization of testing labs, increase tests per million population and reduce confirmation percentage, in addition to ensuring timely availability of ambulances with target zero refusal," the official further said.

"States were also advised to analyze availability and need for projected beds and oxygen, and plan in a timely manner. States and district administration have also been advised to ensure good infection prevention and control practices to control infection in the healthcare workers," said the official.

Principal Secretary (Health) and MD (NHM) from the four States along with district surveillance officers, district collectors, commissioners of the municipal corporation, Chief Medical Officers, and Medical Superintendent of Medical Colleges participated in the meeting.

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April 8,2020

Jamnagar, Apr 7: A 14-month-old baby boy, who had tested positive for coronavirus in Gujarat's Jamnagar district on April 5, died of multiple organ failure on Tuesday, said officials.

The toddler, son of a migrant labourer-couple having no recent travel history, died in the evening at a government hospital in Jamnagar, said an official release.

He was in a critical condition ever since he was admitted to the hospital, it said.

The boy, who tested positive for coronavirus two days ago, was as on ventilator support and eventually died due to multiple organ failure, said the release.

He becomes the youngest patient to succumb to COVID-19 in Gujarat, where the death toll has now gone up to 16.

The baby was the first and the only case of coronavirus infection so far in entire Jamnagar district and the youngest to be diagnosed with the disease in Gujarat.

Ever since he tested coronavirus positive, the authorities had been tracing the source of his infection.

His parents are from Uttar Pradesh and work as casual labourers in factories in the port city.

His parents, who have no travel history in the recent past, are asymptomatic (not showing symptoms) and kept under quarantine, officials said.

The locality where the couple resides in Dared village near Jamnagar city has been put under complete lockdown to check the spread of the virus, they said.

Gujarat has so far recorded 175 coronavirus positive cases and 16 fatalities.

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News Network
June 9,2020

New Delhi, Jun 9: Petrol price on Tuesday was hiked by 54 paise per litre and diesel by 58 paise a litre - the third straight daily increase in rates after oil PSUs ended an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 73.00 per litre from 72.46, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 71.17 a litre from Rs 70.59, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

This is the third daily increase in rates in a row. Oil companies had on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

Prices were raised by 60 paise per litre each on both petrol and diesel on Sunday as well as on Monday. In all, petrol price has gone up by Rs 1.74 per litre and diesel by Rs 1.78 a litre in three days.

Oil PSUs - Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) - had put daily price revisions on hold soon after the government on March 14, hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each.

Oil companies did not pass on that excise duty hike, as well as the May 6 increase in tax on petrol by Rs 10 per litre and Rs 13 a litre hike on diesel by setting them off against the decline in retail prices that should have effected to reflect international oil rates falling to two-decade low.

International rates have since rebounded and oil companies having exhausted all the margin are now passing on the increase to customers, an industry official said.

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