Storms and rainfall-induced landslides associated with cyclone Remal killed at least 31 people and injured several others across three northeastern States on May 28.
Mizoram was the worst affected with 27 confirmed deaths in four incidents of landslides. Officials in the State said the death toll could be more than 30 as an “uncertain number” of people have been reported missing, some buried under debris.
Assam followed with three deaths — one each in Kamrup, Kamrup (Metropolitan) and Morigaon districts. One person died in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills after a wall collapsed due to heavy rainfall.
Disaster management officials in the three States said the rains, accompanied by winds with speeds of up to 60 km per hour, uprooted trees and electric poles, triggered landslides, and disrupted power and Internet services. Some parts of Assam, Meghalaya, and Mizoram continued to be without power since Tuesday midnight.
A Mizoram government report collated from the District Disaster Management Authorities said 14 people, including two minors, were killed and one injured when a stone quarry collapsed on National Highway 6 — the State’s lifeline — near Melthum close to capital Aizawl. Landslides at Hlimen, Salem, Falkawn, Aibawk, Lungsei, and Kelsih in and around Aizawl killed 13 others.
Eight people were reported missing from the site where the stone quarry collapsed. More people were missing elsewhere in the State, officials said.
Aizawl and adjoining areas have been landslide-prone with several areas marked sinking zones.
Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma announced an ex gratia of ₹4 lakh each for the next of kin of the local people who died. “We have earmarked ₹15 crore to tackle disasters triggered by rains induced by the cyclone,” he said.
The State’s Home Minister, K. Sapdanga, said fiscal relief would not be provided to the family members of at least four non-locals who died at the stone quarry. He also said the government ordered the closure of all educational institutions and government offices barring those rendering essential services.
Apart from three deaths, storms in 14 districts of Assam left 17 injured. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, the branch of a tree fell on a school bus in Sonitpur district’s Dhekiajuli, injuring 12 students. Five others were injured in different incidents in Morigaon.
The Meghalaya State Disaster Management Authority said four persons were injured in a landslide in the East Khasi Hills district.
The India Meteorological Department had issued a red alert for eight districts in Assam, four in Meghalaya, and three in Tripura. The rainfall over the last 48 hours provided respite from unprecedented heatwave-like conditions across the region last week, with temperatures crossing the 40-degree mark.
PM Modi to meditate at Tamil Nadu’s Vivekananda Rock Memorial to mark culmination of Lok Sabha campaign
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari, to meditate between May 30 to June 1, to mark the culmination of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office said that PM Modi will arrive at the rock memorial and will be meditating through the day and night at the place, which was also the place where Swami Vivekananda meditated and was visited by the vision of “Bharat Mata”.
There are other reasons behind PM Modi’s choice, said sources, including a message of unity and affection for Tamil Nadu, where this time he has invested much of his political capital. Kanyakumari is said to be the southernmost tip of the Indian mainland, where the three oceans — Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean meet, as well as having a place in Hindu mythology as the place where Goddess Parvati meditated on one foot for attaining Lord Shiva.
Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Kanyakumari is reminiscent of his visit to Kedarnath at the end of campaign for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls (where too he meditating in a now famous hut), and of his visit to Pratapgarh, associated with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in at the end of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The silent period for the seventh and last phase of polling for Lok Sabha polls begins on May 30 with polling scheduled for June 1 for 57 seats across seven States and one Union territory (Chandigarh).
Delhi riots larger conspiracy case: Umar Khalid to remain in jail as court denies bail
A Delhi court on May 28 rejected the bail application of former Jawaharlal Nehru University scholar Umar Khalid who was arrested in a larger conspiracy case pertaining to North East Delhi riots 2020.
Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai of the Karkardooma Courts dismissed Khalid’s plea who was arrested in September 2020. Detailed order is awaited.
The police have accused Khalid of planning protests at 23 places which allegedly led to Delhi riots in 2020. He was then charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly as well as several other offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and is in jail since then.
The Karkardooma court had denied bail to Khalid first time in March 2022 following which he had approached the Delhi High Court which too denied any relief to him in October 2022.
Khaldi had filed a bail application in the Supreme Court which in May 2023, sought response from the Delhi Police in the matter. His plea before the top court was then adjourned 14 times after which Khalid’s counsel, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, informed the Court that the bail plea was being withdrawn.
The accused had approached the trial court after the withdrawal of his bail plea before the Supreme Court on February 14, 2024. He had sought regular bail in the matter on the grounds of delay and parity with other accused in the Delhi riots case.
Pune luxury car crash: Court sends minor’s father in police custody in driver kidnapping case
A Pune court on May 28 remanded the father of a juvenile allegedly involved in the luxury car crash in police custody till May 31 in a case of alleged kidnapping and wrongful confinement of the family driver.
The court also extended the police custody of the juvenile’s grandfather till May 31 in the same case.
Both the accused were produced before Judicial Magistrate First Class A.A. Pande.
The juvenile’s father, realtor Vishal Agarwal (50), is already in judicial custody in a case registered against him and the managers and owners of two pubs under the Juvenile Justice Act.
The police have alleged that Vishal Agrawal and his father Surendra Agrawal (77) pressure on the driver to take the blame for the accident by offering him money and giving him threats.
Surendra Agrawal was arrested in this connection on May 25 and then remanded in police custody till May 28.
A Pune court on May 27 allowed the police to take Vishal Agrawal’s custody in connection with the case of kidnapping and wrongful confinement of their driver.
The police subsequently took his custody from the Yerwada Central Prison and arrested him in that case.
Arvind Kejriwal’s bail extension plea: Supreme Court tells Delhi CM to move CJI for listing
A Vacation Bench of the Supreme Court declined to list an application filed by Arvind Kejriwal’s plea seeking an extension of his interim bail by seven days in a money laundering case linked to the liquor policy ‘scam’.
The Bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and K.V. Viswanathan on May 28 said it cannot intervene in an application filed in a case already reserved for judgment by another Bench of the court.
A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta had reserved judgment on the Delhi CM’s plea to quash his arrest by the ED in the case chargesheeted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. While reserving the case for judgment on May 17, Justice Khanna’s Bench had given Kejriwal liberty to apply for statutory bail under Section 45 of the PMLA.
On May 28, the Vacation Bench told senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, who orally mentioned the application for extension of interim bail for urgent hearing, to approach the Chief Justice of India for “appropriate orders” for listing.
“We cannot do anything,” Justice Maheshwari addressed the senior counsel.
Singhvi submitted the application was made on medical grounds and did not amount to an abuse of liberty.
Poaching allegation: Court summons AAP leader Atishi in defamation case filed by BJP leader
A Delhi court on May 28 summoned Delhi Minister and AAP MLA Atishi in the defamation case filed by BJP leader Praveen Shankar Kapoor over poaching allegations.
Atishi has been directed to appear in Rouse Avenue court’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Tanya Bamniyal, on June 29.
The court, has not issued summons to Kejriwal.
Kapoor, last month, had filed a defamation case against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Atishi over poaching allegations made by them. The two had said that AAP leaders were approached by BJP to join them in return of cash, Kapoor had said in the court.
In his application in the court, Kapoor cited a social media post of Kejriwal (of January 27) in which he had alleged that the BJP had contacted seven AAP MLAs and was offering ₹25 Crores to poach them. He added that AAP leaders had never furnished any material to substantiate their ‘false’ claims.
He also cited the similar claims and also cited the contents of the press briefing done by Atishi on April 2 in which she had said that she had received an offer to join BJP to “save” her “political career” or else she will be arrested by ED.
In his plea, Kapoor had sought withdrawal of the speech and apology on TV and social media. It also stated that if the same was not done, the applicant shall be constrained to initiate both civil and criminal proceedings against her.
Poll roundup:
- The Election Commission on May 28 came out with the absolute number of votes polled in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha election as well as the final turnout which it pegged at 63.37%. The absolute number of voters was released just three days after the voting for the sixth phase took place on May 25 while the numbers for the first five phases was released by the poll body 36 days after the first phase. The highest turnout for the sixth phase was recorded in West Bengal at 82.71%, while the lowest of 55.40% was recorded in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the turnout for J&K was highest in 30 years. The total number of votes polled were 7,05,44,933 in 58 constituencies as against the total registered electors of 11,13,16,606, the EC said.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28 criticised the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal for “snatching the rights of OBC youths” to facilitate its appeasement politics and “vote jihad”. Addressing an election rally in Barasat, Modi, without naming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, criticised her for questioning the judges of the Calcutta High Court and wondered if the TMC would now “let loose its goons on judges” following unfavourable rulings.
- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on May 28 that an INDIA bloc government will end the 50% cap on reservation while asserting that the alliance will protect the Constitution. Addressing an election rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Bansgaon with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Gandhi said, “There is INDIA bloc and the Constitution on one side and those who want to finish the Constitution on the other.” He and added that the alliance will end the 50% cap on reservation while also increasing it.
In Brief:
Spain, Norway and Ireland moved to formally recognize a Palestinian state on May 28 in a coordinated effort by the three western European nations designed to add international pressure on Israel to soften its devastating response to last year’s Hamas-led attack. Tel Aviv slammed the diplomatic move that will have no immediate impact on its grinding war in Gaza.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
Published - May 28, 2024 09:59 pm IST
