3 migrant labourers, an infant returning home during lockdown killed in road accidents in UP
Kanpur/Chitrakoot (UP): Three migrant labourers and an infant girl were killed and 46 others suffered injuries in two road accidents when they were returning home in Uttar Pradesh from other states during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, officials said on Wednesday.
A truck carrying a group of 54 migrant labourers and their families from Ahmedabad in Gujarat to Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh rammed into a stationary truck near Lalpur police post on Kanpur-Jhansi highway, killing three people and injuring 43 others.
According to Superintendent of Police (Kanpur Dehat) Anurag Vats, "The deceased persons have been identified as Rohit (25), Hiraman (50) and Sumaiyya (2), all residents of Balrampur."
The injured have been admitted to the district hospital, the police officer said, adding that eight of them were critical and referred to the Lala Lajpat Rai (LLR) Hospital in Kanpur.
In Chitrakoot, a migrant labourer returning home in Uttar Pradesh from Chhattisgarh on bicycle was killed after being hit by a truck.
Forty-year-old Mohan, a resident of Saharanpur, was returning home along with three others on Tuesday evening when the accident took place, they said.
The labourers had stopped on the roadside near Kalchiha village here to take rest when they were hit by a speeding truck, the police said.
All the four suffered injuries in the accident and taken to a community health centre in Mau village, where Mohan died. Mau community health centre superintendent Shekhar Vaishya said condition of the three other workers was stable.
The truck has been seized and its driver arrested, the police said. The workers, hailing from Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar districts, were working at a jaggery factory in Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
The factory was closed due to the ongoing lockdown enforced to check the spread of the novel coronavirus.
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Conspiracy afoot to 'tarnish' image of Dharmasthala: Deputy CM DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru, Aug 14 (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday said there was a “conspiracy” to tarnish the image of Dharmasthala.
His comments come amid an ongoing investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into serious allegations of mass burials in the revered temple town in Dakshina Kannada district.
“A conspiracy is being hatched to destroy hundreds of years of legacy. It is not correct to tarnish someone just like that. It has all happened due to one complainant,” he said.
Noting that some Congress MLAs have called for action against those involved in the slander campaign at the legislature party meeting, he said, “ I have told them that action must be taken against those who are indulging in a slander campaign. The CM has also said that action must be taken against such people.”
“I have information on this case. Religious feelings should not be hurt in any manner. Culprits must be punished,” he told reporters, according to a release from his office.
Responding to a question, Shivakumar said the Congress party will not allow the image of any religious place to be tarnished.
“We see everyone equally when it comes to religion,” he added.
The SIT, formed by the state government, is probing claims of mass murder, rape, and mass burials in Dharmasthala over the past two decades.
The complainant, a former sanitation worker whose identity has not been revealed, alleged that between 1995 and 2014 he was forced to handle bodies—including women and minors—and that some showed signs of sexual assault. He has given a statement before a magistrate.
As part of the probe, the SIT has been conducting exhumations at multiple locations identified by the complainant-witness in the forested areas along the banks of the Netravathi River in Dharmasthala, where some skeletal remains have been found at two sites so far.
