Lucknow (PTI): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday alleged large-scale illegal mining and environmental destruction in the Chambal ravines in Etawah, accusing UP government-led officials of facilitating the disappearance of entire hills.

In a strongly worded post on X, Yadav questioned whether the small and large hills near the historic Sumer Singh Fort had been "transferred" to regions like Basti and Gorakhpur in collusion with lower and higher-ranking officials.

He shared a video clip showing what appeared to be a partially flattened landscape where hills once stood.

"New officials may come and go," Yadav wrote, "but the hills of Chambal that were hacked away and vanished with the spade of corruption and divided through collusion'”how will those return?"

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister added, "Paryavaran kahe aaj ka, nahi chahiye BJP (In the name of today's environment, we do not need the BJP)!"

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Kozhikode (Kerala) (PTI): A Kerala court on Wednesday sentenced a man to 41 years in prison for sexually assaulting a minor boy near Valayam in 2021.

Nadapuram Fast Track Special Court judge K Naushad Ali sentenced 64-year-old Panchara Musa, also known as Ganapathiyat Musa, under various provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), according to special public prosecutor Manoj Aroor.

As the sentences are to run concurrently, the convict will have to serve the highest term of 20 years’ imprisonment, SPP Aroor said. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 52,000 on Musa.

The incident took place in August 2021 when the accused allegedly took the 14-year-old boy to a bus stop in Valayam town and sexually assaulted him, the prosecutor said. The accused also gave Rs 50 to the boy, he added.

Following the incident, the boy and his father lodged a complaint at the Valayam police station.

A case under various provisions of the POCSO Act and the IPC was registered, and the accused was subsequently arrested, the SPP said.

The prosecution examined 16 witnesses and submitted 16 documents to substantiate its case against the accused, he added.