Journalist turned manager Smita Rao found hanging at home

New Delhi, Apr 14: A 35-year-old man has been booked by the police for refusing to eat food at a quarantine centre on the ground that it had been cooked by a Dalit.

Reports said Siraj Ahmad, a native of Bhujouli Khurd village under Khadda police station in Kushinagar district, had returned from Delhi on March 29, and was staying at the quarantine centre at the village primary school along with other four people.

On Friday, village head, Lilawati Devi, in absence of the cook, prepared food in the quarantine centre for all the five people but Siraj refused to eat it.

Police, after conducting investigation, registered a FIR against him under the SC/ST Act on Monday.

The village head had lodged a written complaint with the police on Friday and also informed sub-divisional magistrate Desh Deepak Singh and block development officer Ramakant.

SHO Khadda police station, R.K. Yadav said that a case against Siraj was registered under the SC/ST Act.

Meanwhile, on Saturday evening, Vijay Dubey, the local BJP MLA, went to the house of village head and asked her to serve him food cooked by her.

"Untouchability is a social evil that cannot be tolerated at any cost," he said.

Pratapgarh, Jun 2: In a shocking incident, a young man was tied to a tree and set afire by the family of a woman with whom he was allegedly having an affair in Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh late on Monday night.

The man, 25, was a resident of Bhujauni village under Fatanpur police station, and he died on the spot.

Enraged over the incident, his family members and local people turned violent and set two police vehicles on fire.

Additional forces were rushed in to control the situation that remains tense.

The body has been sent for post-mortem.

According to Superintendent of Police (SP), Pratapgarh, Abhishek Singh, "Some people barged into the house of Ambika Patel and dragged him away. They then tied Patel to a tree some distance away and set him on fire after sprinkling petrol on him. They fled immediately after." Agitated family members and villagers assembled at the site and set a 112 police response vehicle (PRV) and another police jeep on fire. They were demanding immediate arrest and action against the accused.

The official said that Patel's relatives claimed that he was having an affair with a woman from his village and this had resulted in many face-offs between the families.

Patel had reportedly shared a video clip of the woman on social media a few months ago further increasing tension between the families.

The woman's family members had registered a police complaint against Patel in this connection at the Fatanpur police station that led to his arrest. He was released from jail recently, police added.

The woman had been recently selected as a police constable and was posted to Kanpur.

The SP said that an FIR had been registered on the complaint of the victim's family and efforts were on to arrest the accused.

Gonda, Apr 9: A man allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling of his room as he was missing his wife stuck at her parents' place due to the lockdown, police said.

The incident took place in Radha Kund locality here on Wednesday, they said, adding the deceased has been identified as Rakesh Soni, 32.

As per information, Soni's wife had gone to her parents' place and was stuck there due to the lockdown and he was missing her due to which he committed suicide, Inspector Alok Rao said.

A probe is on in the mater, he said.