Digvijaya Singh drums up support for Bharat Bandh
After a yawning gap of several years, former chief minister and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh toured the old city areas on Saturday, not as a bigtime national politician, but as a common Congress worker appealing to local traders to down their shutters during the party’s Bharat Bandh on September 10, called to protest soaring petrol and diesel prices.
Around 5 pm, Singh took out a march from Peer Gate to Lakirapura, moving through the congested Chowk Bazar, Sarafa Chowk, Itwara and Buddhwara localities. Singh was accompanied by the Bhopal North MLA Arif Aqeel, as the Congress leaders and workers walked through the narrow lanes appealing to people to ensure the success of the Bandh.
Cops probe possibility of more call centers
After busting an alleged international gang of fraudsters duping loan defaulters in the US via a fake call centre being operated from a rented flat in Indrapuri area of the city, the cyber cell of MP Police is probing the possibility of other such call centres being run in the state capital. The police are working with Gujarat police and other agencies in some other states to track down the other members of the gang. With the ongoing investigations pointing towards the involvement of cyber fraudsters from the US, Singapore, and African and Caribbean nations, the state police has communicated the development to agencies, particularly in the US and Singapore, to detect the gang’s tentacles abroad.
Top women hockey players to be in action from Sep 10
After winning the silver medal at the recently concluded Asian Games, top Indian women stick-wielders will be seen in action at the Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia Women’s Hockey Gold Cup tournament starting at the hockey ground near Mayur Park from September 10. In all, 12 teams from all over the country will feature in the week-long Rs 11.5 lakh prize money tourney, which has been included by Hockey India in its hockey calendar. While the names of the Indian team players who would be seen in action at the event will be disclosed on the inaugural day, Reena Khokhar and Monika, the two players from MP Women’s Hockey Academy who recently formed part of the silver winning Indian team in Jakarta will be playing in the tourney, where four matches will be played daily.
Gang of murderous highway robbers busted
The arrest of three men, including kingpin Adesh Khamra (50), has helped the city police bust a gang of highway robbers allegedly involved in killing more than 20 people, mostly truck drivers and cleaners, across the country. The gang members befriended truck drivers and cleaners and threw parties for them, where they were served drinks and food laced with sedatives. After the drivers and cleaners went into a deep slumber, the gang members killed them and dumped their bodies in forests or water bodies.
Congress dumps social media diktat
The MP Congress Committee’s order making proactive presence on social media mandatory for all those aspiring to contest the next Assembly polls as party candidates has been struck down after state party chief Kamal Nath objected to it. The order signed by state party vice president (organization) Chandraprabhash Shekhar and issued on September 2 said that those aspiring to a party ticket in the coming Assembly polls should have at least 15,000 likes on their Facebook page and a minimum of 5,000 followers on Twitter.
Anuraag Singh
Our correspondent in Madhya Pradesh
singhanuraag.jaurno@gmail.com