PM's niece falls prey to snatchers in Delhi; robbed of Rs 50000, 2 mobile phones
New Delhi, Oct 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's niece has become the latest victim of snatching in the national capital with her purse containing cash of Rs 50,000 and two mobile phones wrenched from her grasp by two persons when she was alighting from an auto-rickshaw on Saturday.
Based on a complaint by Damayanti Ben Modi, daughter of the prime minister's brother Prahlad Modi, police registered a case and later identified the two snatchers.
The incident happened soon after Damayanti Ben reached Delhi from Amritsar in the morning.
Two persons on a scooter snatched the woman's purse containing Rs 50,000, two mobile phones, some documents and other valuables around 7 am when she got down at the Gujrati Samaj Bhawan in North Delhi's Civil Lines area, a senior police officer said.
The incident occurred a few kilometres away from the residence of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind kejriwal.
Damayanti Ben had a flight to Ahmedabad in the evening.
She informed police and on her statement, the case under section 356 (assault or criminal force in attempt to commit theft of property carried by a person) and 379 (punishment for theft) was registered at Civil Lines police station, they said.
Police said that they have examining the CCTV footage of nearby areas and identified the two accused persons and claimed that they will be arrested soon.
"I came to Delhi and reached Gujarati Samaj Bhavan on Saturday morning. I was scheduled to take a flight for Gujarat in the evening. I was getting off the auto-rickshaw when the snatchers targeted me," the woman said.
After the incident, the Aam Aadmi Party took potshots at the Modi government, saying this reflects the "miserable and pathetic" law and order situation in Delhi.
"With each passing day, the law and order situation is going from bad to worse. The alacrity that Delhi Police shows in chasing political opponents of the BJP is completely absent when it comes to providing safety to the people of Delhi. The most recent victim of this has been the niece of our prime minister," AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha said.
"It is all the more shocking that such an incident took place near the residences of LG and Chief Minister," he said.
He said the Home Ministry should take immediate and strong measures to restore law and order in Delhi.
In the past couple of months, several incidents of snatching have been reported in the national capital.
On September 22, a woman journalist was injured after she attempted to resist a snatching bid in south Delhi's CR park while she was returning home in an auto-rickshaw.
Two men on motorcycle snatched her mobile phone and in the struggle, she fell from the vehicle while the men fled the spot.
A few days later, another woman journalist fell victim when her mobile phone was snatched by two bike-borne men in southeast Delhi's Okhla.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Health minister Wes Streeting's resignation piles pressure on UK PM Starmer
London (PTI): UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned from the Cabinet on Thursday, declaring that he had lost confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
As a frontrunner to replace Starmer at 10 Downing Street, Streeting is expected to launch his bid to be elected Labour leader if he can secure the backing of the party's requisite 81 members of Parliament.
It piles further pressure on Starmer, who has been attempting to quell an internal rebellion over the devastating results for the governing party in last week’s local elections.
“It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election and that Labour MPs and Labour unions want the debate about what comes next to be a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism," Streeting said in his resignation letter addressed to Starmer.
“It needs to be broad, and it needs to be the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach and I hope you will facilitate it,” he said.
The former minister accused his boss of lacking any vision and overseeing a power “vacuum” and also went on to highlight his own record of leading the Department for Health and Social Care and state-funded National Health Service (NHS).
Streeting added: “The National Health Service is the embodiment of all that is best about Britain and our values. Thanks to our Labour government, it is on the road to recovery: lots done, but so much more to do.
“These are all good reasons for me to remain in post, but as you know from our conversation earlier this week, having lost confidence in your leadership, I have concluded that it would be dishonourable and unprincipled to do so.”
His words are being interpreted as paving the way for a Labour leadership contest, with former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband among his other expected rivals.
While some indications are that this process may not be triggered any time soon, Starmer's future as Labour leader is looking extremely tenuous if the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) gets involved in a formal election process.
Meanwhile, Rayner issued a statement earlier to confirm that she had been cleared by the UK tax authorities of any wrongdoing over her financial affairs that had forced her to step down from the Cabinet last year.
"I took reasonable care and acted in good faith, based on the expert advice I received, and HMRC [His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs] has accepted this," she said.
This is seen as her declaring her intention to be ready to join the fray, should a Labour leadership election be launched.
The latest turmoil at the top of the British government comes after a series of junior ministerial resignations, with Starmer staying the course by announcing their replacements. Earlier his ally, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, cautioned her colleagues to refrain from plunging the country into chaos and putting the UK’s economic recovery at risk.
“We shouldn’t put that at risk by plunging the country into chaos at a time when there is conflict in the world, but also at a time when our plan to grow the economy is starting to bear fruit," she said.
However, the deep divisions within the Labour Party ranks are only expected to escalate further in the coming days and weeks.
