Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], March 20 (ANI): Congress spokesperson Dasoju Sravan on Friday alleged that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has indulged in enrolling bogus votes in the recent MLC elections.
Speaking to ANI, Sravan said, “The Congress Party have been time and again said that the TRS party is indulging in enrolling bogus votes in the recent Graduate MLC elections in Telangana.”
Sravan said that TRS leader and Chairperson of Tandur Municipal Corporation of Vikarabad district Swapna cast her vote in the Graduate MLC elections despite not having voting right as she is not a graduate.
“I wonder how the returning officer has allowed an illegal and bogus voter to come and vote,” he added.
The Congress leader said that this incident clearly shows how the TRS party has misused its authority. “I ask K Chandrashekhar Rao is he going to take action against her or not,” he said.
Sravan further said that if Rao holds any respect for the Constitution, then he must immediately suspend Swapna from his party. He also demanded the election authorities, particularly the Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana to immediately file a criminal case against Swapna and make sure that she is removed from the Chairman position.
Speaking about the lake encroachments in Hyderabad city, Sravan said that he welcomes the interim verdict given by the High Court of Telangana directing the Government of Telangana to protect the lakes of Hyderabad.
“During Telangana agitations, it was one of the main agendas that the thousands of lakes in and around Hyderabad City be protected from encroachments in Hyderabad city. These lakes in and around Hyderabad City were always exposed to encroachments. So, during the Telangana agitations, we have kept an agenda that all the lakes in Telangana state be protected from encroachments,” he said.
He further said that the TRS government has failed to protect the lakes and said after the TRS came to power lake encroachments have multiplied.
“On behalf of the Congress Party, we demand that a fully empowered Hyderabad’s Lakes Protection Authority be constituted,” Sravan said.
He further added that by constituting a lakes protection authority, we can not only protect the ecology and environment but also can save Hyderabad from any Natural Disasters like the recent 2020 Hyderabad floods. (ANI)

Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India], March 20 (ANI): An FIR has been registered after a woman filed a complaint here accusing a man of raping her in 2004.
Jyoti Sharma, Station House Office, women’s police station said that the victim was around 22-23 years old at the time of the incident.
“A woman came to the police station and gave a complaint that she was raped in Indore in 2004. She did not know the accused. Even he told her a fake name. In 2019, she got to know about the accused on Facebook. We have registered an FIR,” Sharma told ANI.
“The accused promised her a job in Indore. She was around 22-23 years old and she needed a job as her family’s economic condition was not good. The complainant is from Neemuch and the accused is from Jaora,” she said. (ANI)

Chandigarh [India], March 20 (ANI): Amid surging COVID-19 cases, the Punjab government has announced the closure of educational institutions till March 31, according to the State government.
Punjab School Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla on Friday said that as Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh announced the closure of educational institutions in the state till March 31, the school education department has also decided to postpone exams of all classes till March 31, 2021.
The cabinet minister said that the Congress government is committed to ensure the safety of the school students and every possible step will be taken to curb the Covid-19 contamination.
Singla said that the education department would release a fresh schedule/datesheet of exams before March 31 and the mode of examination could also be reviewed as per the situation.
Meanwhile, in Ferozpur, police made people who were found without face masks undergo on-spot COVID-19 tests and gave free face masks to them.

Punjab reported 2,490 new COVID-19 cases, 1339 recoveries and 38 deaths in the last 24 hours. The cumulative cases in the state reached 2,07,888 including 1,86,187 recoveries and 6,242 deaths.
At present, there are 15,459 active cases in Punjab. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 20 (ANI): Delhi Police has busted an inter-state gang involved in helping candidates to clear online exams for various government jobs by cheating in lieu of money and booked four persons of the gang.
The police said the accused used to charge the candidates Rs 15 lakhs to Rs 25 lakhs for an exam.
“Secret information was developed that some illegal practices and illegal means are being practised at Om and Chander Associates Examination Centre, Naraina Industrial Area, New Delhi in the ongoing examination for the post of Forest Guard. Thereafter, on March 4, 2021, a team conducted a raid at the examination centre and caught a candidate namely Rohit red-handed along with one mobile phone Samsung Galaxy (smartphone). Rohit was using the recovered mobile phone for solving his online paper,” the police said.
A case under sections 419, 420, 201, 34 of the India Penal Code was registered at Police Station Naraina and investigation was taken up.
During the investigation, WhatsApp data of the seized mobile phone of accused Rohit was retrieved and analyzed by the police.
“Upon the incriminating evidence retrieved, three other accused persons namely Vaishali, Love Kumar and Himanshu were also arrested from different places in Delhi and Haryana. During interrogation, it was revealed that the accused Vaishali is the ‘Kingpin’ of the nexus. She along with her boyfriend Anil Sharma, brother Love and other associates used to run a nexus dealing in Online Examinations for various government jobs,” the police said.
According to police, the gang operates in various states including Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar-Pradesh and Delhi, particularly in the rural area to target unemployed youth aspiring for their future in government jobs.
The accused used Hi-tech applications to leak the online government examinations through mobile phones managed by the Examination Centre employees, police informed.
“They usually manage the private examination centre employee’s to provide a mobile phone to their candidate sitting in the exam. Besides this, they also used to send their dummy candidate inside the examination centre with a mobile phone. The dummy candidate used to leak the examination through mobile phone to the ‘Kingpin’ through high tech applications,” police said. (ANI)

Puducherry [India], March 20 (ANI): All schools of State, CBSE, and ICSE boards in Puducherry will remain closed for Class 1 to Class 8 between March 22 and May 31 in view of rising cases of COVID-19 here, the Puducherry government said.
The government also said government/government-aided/private schools in Puducherry and Karaikal regions will function from 5 days a week from Monday to Friday. Saturdays are declared as Holidays.
According to the Union Health Ministry, there are 6 active coronavirus cases while 39,521 recovered in Puducherry. 674 people died due to COVID-19 in the Union Territory. (ANI)

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], March 20 (ANI): An FIR was registered against 37 Popular Front of India (PFI) workers at Kondhwa Police Station in Pune for allegedly violating COVID-19 guidelines during a training program.
According to a complaint registered with Kondhwa Police Station, the accused had organised a training program and gathered at a place in Kondhwa area violating COVID-19 guidelines.
However, acting on a tip-off received police reached the spot and stopped the program in between.
All accused have been booked under section 188, 269, 270 of the Indian Penal Code along with relevant sections of the Disaster Management Act, Epidemic Act, and Maharashtra Police Act.
Further investigation into the matter is underway. (ANI)