Fresh spate of storm in UP, 23 dead
Lucknow, May 14: Dust storm, hail and lightning have claimed as many as 23 lives in the last 12 hours in Uttar Pradesh, an official said on Monday.
The storm hit Etawah, Banda, Auriyya, Meerut, Kanpur rural, Kannauj, Farrukhabad and Orai districts.
Late on Sunday gusty winds, followed by dust storm had brought life to a standstill in many parts of the state. Many houses were razed to the ground, hoardings and trees uprooted and power outages reported from various cities and towns.
The relief commissioner's office, although, has confirmed only 18 deaths besides two dozen injuries in Sunday's dust storm.
District officials have been asked by Chief Minister Adityanath to ensure prompt relief, a government spokesman said.Due to the uprooting of trees, vehicular traffic on the busy G.T. road near Orai was disrupted for more than four hours.
A woman standing under a tree in Kannauj was killed as it fell on her while two persons have been reported dead from Barabanki.
Three deaths, including a child have been reported from Bulandshahr due to a wall collapse.
Five persons have been reported dead in Kasganj and one in the temple town of Vrindavan. Two persons died in Saharanpur after being struck with lightning.
One person died in Muzaffarnagar as he was hit by a tree branch when he was driving a bike.
One person was killed in Ghaziabad's Lalkuan area after a tree fell on a car and a six-year-old died in Hapur after falling in a tube well tank due to the squall.
A passerby was hit by a hoarding brought down by winds near the Stellar Jeevan Society in Noida and died while one woman was killed in Aligarh.
While one died in Sambhal, two persons were killed in Banjariya village when two minarets of a mosque were ripped off by high velocity winds and they fell on a house. One person was killed in Budaun.
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11 Indian nationals charged in US over visa fraud
New York (PTI): Eleven Indian nationals, living illegally in the US, have been charged with visa fraud for conspiring to carry out staged armed robberies of convenience shops, according to US federal prosecutors.
Authorities said the suspects are accused of organising fake robberies for the purpose of allowing the store clerks to falsely claim they were crime victims on immigration applications towards getting a Green Card.
Jitendrakumar Patel, 39, Maheshkumar Patel, 36, Sanjaykumar Patel, 45, Dipikaben Patel, 40, Rameshbhai Patel, 52, Amitabahen Patel, 43, Ronakkumar Patel, 28, Sangitaben Patel, 36, Minkesh Patel, 42, Sonal Patel, 42 and Mitul Patel, 40 have been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud.
They all were living unlawfully in various US states such as Massachusetts, Kentucky and Ohio.
Dipikaben was deported to India after unlawfully residing in Weymouth, Massachusetts, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Jitendrakumar, Maheshkumar, Sanjaykumar, Amitabahen, Sangitaben and Mitul were arrested in Massachusetts and released following an initial appearance in federal court in Boston on Friday.
Rameshbhai, Ronakkumar, Sonal and Minkesh were arrested and made their initial appearances in Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio. They will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
According to the charging documents, in March 2023, Rambhai and his co-conspirators set up and carried out staged armed robberies of at least six convenience/liquor stores and fast food restaurants in Massachusetts and elsewhere.
It is alleged that the purpose of the staged robberies was to allow the clerks present to falsely claim that they were victims of a violent crime on an application for a U non-immigration status (U Visa).
A U Visa is available to victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and who have been helpful to law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity. The U visa offers an immigrant work authorisation and a path to a Green Card within 5–10 years.
Authorities said that in the course of the alleged staged robberies, the “robber” would threaten store clerks or the owners with an apparent firearm before taking cash from the register and fleeing, while the interaction was captured on store surveillance video.
The clerks or the store owners would then wait five or more minutes until the “robber” had escaped before calling the police to report the “crime.”
The “victims” are alleged to have each paid Rambhai to participate in the scheme. In turn, Rambhai allegedly paid the store owners for the use of their stores for the staged robbery.
Rambhai, the “robber,” and the getaway driver were previously charged and convicted.
The 11 defendants charged on Friday are alleged to have either arranged with the organiser to set up each robbery, or paid for themselves or a family member to participate as a “victim.”
The charge of conspiracy to commit visa fraud provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of USD 250,000.
