IAF Chopper Ferrying Kerosene Bursts at 17,000 Feet in Tawang, 7 Killed

Agencies
October 6, 2017

New Delhi, Oct 6: Five Air Force personnel and two Armymen were killed on Friday when an IAF helicopter ferrying kerosene cans burst into flames in Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh.

The mishap happened at an altitude of 17,000 feet when the Mi-17 V5 chopper crew were getting ready to drop kerosene supply at a forward location.

While jerry cans of kerosene were being offloaded, the net holding the cans got entangled in the aircraft’s rear rotor, sources said. The chopper caught fire and crashed to the ground, killing all onboard.

When the chopper caught fire, one of the crew members jumped out, but couldn’t survive, sources said.

The chopper crashed at 6am, just 10km from the India-China border.

A Court of Inquiry has been ordered into the crash.

The deceased were identified as Wing Commander Vikram Upadhyay, Squadron Leader S Tiwari, MWO AK Singh, Sergeant Gautam and Sergeant Satish Kumar of the Air Force, and Sepoy E Balaji and Sepoy HN Deka of the Army.

“It’s a sad incident. There can be many reasons that led to the crash. It can be weather or technical issues. It is not right for me to comment before the probe report is out,” said former Army chief and Union minister VK Singh.

The crash comes a day before the IAF celebrates Air Force Day.

"Our losses in the peacetime are a cause of concern. We are making concerted efforts to minimise accidents and preserve our assets," Air Force chief Marshal BS Dhanoa had said on Thursday, referring to a string of crashes of IAF choppers and military jets in recent years.

In July, it was reported that Russia and India are holding negotiations for the supply of 48 Russian Mi-17 military transport helicopters with Moscow hoping to seal the deal by the year end.

According to a news agency report, last year Russia had handed over to India the final batch of three Mi-17 V5 military transport helicopters under a previously signed contract with Rosoboronexport, a company of the Rostec State Corporation, entailing a total of 151 units of the Mi-17 V5 helicopter, produced by the Kazan Helicopter Plant.

Designed to transport cargo inside the cabin and on an external sling, the Mi-17 V5 is considered to be one of the world's most advanced military transport helicopters.

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News Network
March 31,2020

New Delhi, Mar 31: At least 24 people staying at Markaz building in Nizamuddin area of the national capital have tested positive for coronavirus, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday.

"All of them are being screened. We are not certain of the number but it is estimated that 1500-1700 people had assembled at the Markaz building. 1033 people have been evacuated so far - 334 of them have been sent to the hospital and 700 sent to quarantine centre. Total 24 positive cases have been found so far," he said while speaking to reporters here.

The minister also slammed the organisers of the religious event saying that they have committed a grave crime.

"The event's organisers committed a grave crime. Disaster Act and Contagious Diseases Act was enforced in Delhi, no assembly of more than 5 people was allowed. Still, they did this. I have written to Lieutenant Governor to take strict action against them. Delhi government has given an order to file an FIR against the organisers," the Health Minister said.

Earlier, the Delhi government had said: "It has come to our knowledge that administrators of Nizammuddin Markaz violated coronavirus lockdown conditions and now several positive cases have been found. Strong action would be taken against those in charge of this establishment. Delhi government will ask the police to register an FIR against Maulana of Markaz, Nizamuddin." 

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News Network
January 7,2020

New Delhi, Jan 7: The Delhi Police has filed an FIR against JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh and 19 others for allegedly attacking security guards and vandalising the server room of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on January 4.

The police registered the FIR on January 5.

In the complaint filed by the JNU administration, the University alleged that the accused were involved in physical violence and pushed the women guards, verbally abused them and threatened them of dire consequences if they opened the lock of university's communication and information (CIS) office.

"They illegally trespassed the University property with the criminal intention to damage the public property. They damaged servers and made it dysfunctional. They also damaged fiber optic power supplies and broke the biometric systems inside the room," the University officials alleged.

This incident allegedly occurred a day before Aishe Ghosh, other JNU students and teachers were attacked by a masked mob inside the campus.

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Agencies
February 5,2020

New Delhi, Feb 5: Days after a gunman opened fire in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of anti-CAA movement, YouTuber Gunja Kapoor was detained at the protest site on Wednesday after she was caught covertly filming the protests in a burqa.

Kapoor runs the channel ‘Right Narrative’ on YouTube and her pinned tweet on Twitter says she is followed on the microblogging site by PM Narendra Modi.

According to police, the protesters turned suspicious after Kapoor asked them "too many questions". She was caught by some of the women protesters after they identified her as the popular YouTuber. The incident led to a commotion at Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a senior police official said.

She was taken to Sarita Vihar police station where her identity was ascertained, police said.

The incident sparked outrage on social media. Many took to Twitter to question why Kapoor was at the protest in disguise. Others expressed concern about her motives at secretly filming the protests.

Meanwhile, praises flew in for the women of Shaheen Bagh who can be seen defending Kapoor from angry protesters after she was caught.

This is not the first time that a right wing social media activist has landed in trouble in Shaheen Bagh where residents and other women and children have been sitting in protest for nearly two months since the passing of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 in December last year.

In January, Deepa Sharma had posted videos online about the "traumatic" experience she had when she was allegedly heckled and harassed by Shaheen Bagh protesters. While the woman's claim could never be verified, other pieces of rampant fake news aimed at delegitimising and villainising protesters has taken social media by storm.

From doctored videos of women protesters allegedly accepting they were paid Rs 500 to attend protests to alleged fights over biriyani and anti-India sloganeering, trolls on social media seem to be working overtime to taint the ongoing protests.

The latter, however, show no signs of giving up. In fact, as Delhi nears elections on February 8, protesters have arranged for music performances by eminent artists, including pop celebrity Prateek Kuhad, till February 7.

Sit in protests take place 24x7 with women showing up in thousands to spend the night and sing songs of protest. And with polls around the corner, the protests have become an active part of political discourse with Aam Aadmi Party's Manish Sisodia expressing his support for the protesters at a recent press conference.

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