Three NIT students drown in waterfall in Assam
Haflong (PTI): Three students from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Silchar, drowned in a waterfall in Assam’s Dima Hasao district, officials said on Sunday.
The incident took place at the Bulchol (Hmunthajao) waterfall, located in Bolsom Bagan of Harangajao on Saturday afternoon, they said.
"The tragic mishap occurred when the group of NIT students visited the scenic but remote waterfall for an outing. After getting information, our teams rushed to the spot and started the rescue operation," a senior official of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) said.
The deceased students have been identified as Sauhard Rai (20) and Sarbavartika Singh (20) from Uttar Pradesh, and Radhika (19) from Bihar.
Rescue efforts were hampered due to poor mobile connectivity and inaccessibility of the area, making communication and coordination difficult, he said.
"A medical team was kept on standby to respond to any emergency situation. All the three students were retrieved from the water, but declared dead by doctors," the DDMA official said.
The authorities have expressed grief over the incident, and urged people to exercise caution while visiting waterfalls and other tourist spots, especially during the post-monsoon season when water currents remain unpredictable and hazardous.
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Codeine syrup seized in UP; six held in separate operations in Etah, Mirzapur
Etah/Mirzapur (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh Police have intensified their crackdown on the alleged illegal trade, diversion and distribution of regulated codeine-based cough syrup, arresting six persons in separate operations in Etah and Mirzapur districts, officials said on Monday.
The action comes as the probe widened into the alleged codiene syrup trafficking racket, suspected to be involved in illicit trade estimated to be worth hundreds of crores -- with links stretching across several states and possibly beyond international borders.
In Etah, a joint team of the Agra anti-narcotics unit and Aliganj police recovered 47 cartons of codeine-based cough syrup, estimated to be worth around Rs 50 lakh, from a tobacco warehouse under Aliganj police station area limits Sunday night.
Four persons, including a retired serviceman, were arrested on the spot, police said.
According to police, the raid was carried out at a warehouse in Nagla Bani village following a tip-off. Preliminary investigation revealed that the seized cough syrup bore the name of a Baddi-based pharmaceutical company, 'Wings', but the batch numbers printed on the wrappers had been deliberately scratched off, indicating that the consignment was illegally manufactured.
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The arrested accused have been identified as Jitendra Yadav, Jitendra Shakya, Pramod Shakya and Punjab Singh, a retired soldier. Cases have been registered against them under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and other relevant sections, and further investigation is underway, police said.
Official sources said the Etah recovery is suspected to be linked to Varanasi-based drug trader, Shubham Jaiswal, who is allegedly associated with an international drug syndicate.
A lookout circular has already been issued against him, while his father was arrested earlier from Kolkata. The main accused remains absconding, officials said.
In a separate development, Mirzapur police arrested two more accused -- Ajit Yadav and Akshat Yadav -- in connection with a case of illegal supply of codeine-based cough syrup registered at Adalhat police station. The arrests were made on Sunday evening following sustained investigation of the suspects, police said.
According to officials, the two accused had allegedly floated firms using forged Aadhaar cards and supplied cough syrup through fake documentation.
During investigation, police found that transactions worth over Rs 1 crore had been routed through bank accounts opened in Varanasi in the name of the fake firms.
Police said Akshat Yadav, proprietor of a firm named A K Distributors, was supplied around 36 litre of New Phensedyl cough syrup (100 ml bottles) from a trader based in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
The firm was found to be non-functional on the ground, and records showed it had been opened only once or twice without carrying out any genuine pharmaceutical business.
Further scrutiny revealed that the Aadhaar card used for obtaining the drug licence carried a Mirzapur address and was forged, while a different Aadhaar card with a Varanasi address was used for banking purposes, pointing to deliberate fabrication of documents, police said. The firm's bank account in Varanasi showed a turnover of around Rs 1.28 crore.
The two accused have been booked under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the NDPS Act and sent to jail. Police said involvement of more suspects is likely and the investigation is ongoing.
Officials said the recoveries and arrests form part of a broader state-wide investigation into the illegal diversion of codeine-based cough syrup, a regulated drug.
