If anyone tries to cast evil eye on India, befitting reply will be given: Rajnath warns 'neighbour'
Kanker (Chhattisgarh), Jul 1: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday warned India's "neighbour" that if anyone tried to harm the country, a befitting reply will be given.
He was speaking at a rally in Chhattisgarh's tribal-dominated Kanker district.
India has emerged as a powerful country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and it is not weak anymore, he said.
"I want to tell our neighbour, if anyone tries to cast evil eye on us, a befitting reply will be given," the minister added.
He also said that the influence of the Left Wing Extremism has declined and it is restricted to just 10-12 districts due to the effective action taken by the Modi government in the last nine years.
The Naxal menace would have been wiped out from Chhattisgarh had the Congress government in the state cooperated fully, he claimed.
Notably, elections are due in Chhattisgarh by year-end.
The defence minister also alleged that forced religious conversions were on rise in the state, particularly in Bastar, and said the Congress government should put a stop to them.
Prime minister Modi has the same commitment to the welfare of Dalits, tribals and backward classes as former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had, the senior BJP leader said.
Congress, after independence, gave priority to itself and its politics and neglected tribals, he alleged.
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'Contract killing' plot busted in Thane; victim's brother among four held
Thane (PTI): The Thane police have uncovered a "contract killing" plot and arrested four persons, including the victim's younger brother, who allegedly hired the assailants and lodged the complaint to mislead investigators and hide his role in the murder, officials said on Sunday.
The victim, identified as Paresh Tolaram Patil (40), was hacked to death on May 12 over a property dispute, and his brother allegedly paid Rs 10 lakh to the contract killers, an official said.
The same day, Naresh Tolaram Patil (37), an auto-rickshaw driver residing in the Bhiwandi area of Maharashtra's Thane district, lodged a police complaint alleging that his elder brother Paresh had been murdered by unidentified persons.
According to Naresh, his brother was riding his motorcycle to work at Vasai in neighbouring Palghar district when the unidentified assailants intercepted him and assaulted him with sharp weapons, in-charge Superintendent of Police Anmol Mittal said.
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Following the complaint, the Ganeshpuri police registered a case of murder on May 13.
The investigation teams examined several CCTV recordings along the suspected escape routes and used advanced technical surveillance.
The police then traced the registration plate of a vehicle allegedly used by the assailants, leading to the arrest of three alleged contract killers -- Rakesh Bhagwan Patil (37), Premjit Madhukar Gharat (38), and Daksh Bhanukant Bhoir (24) -- from Palghar, the official said.
"During intense interrogation, the three persons confessed to their involvement in the killing. They revealed that the plot was masterminded by the victim's brother, Naresh Patil, who had lodged the initial police complaint to misguide the law enforcement agencies," he said.
According to the official, Naresh Patil confessed to hatching the conspiracy due to an ongoing property dispute with his elder brother and that he had offered Rs 10 lakh to the three accused to eliminate Paresh.
Naresh Patil has also been arrested, and a further probe is underway into the case, they added.
