Bhojpuri actress Akanksha Dubey's death: Singer Samar Singh arrested from Ghaziabad
Ghaziabad (PTI): The Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested singer Samar Singh, an accused in the death of popular Bhojpuri actress Akanksha Dubey, from here, officials said on Friday.
A look-out notice had been issued against Singh and another man after Dubey was found dead in a hotel room in Sarnath around a fortnight ago.
Singh was hiding in a housing society in the Nandgram area of Ghaziabad -- the western Uttar Pradesh district bordering Delhi.
He was held late on Thursday night in a joint operation by the local police and their visiting counterparts from Varanasi, a senior officer said.
"A team from the Sarnath police station of the Varanasi Commissionerate had come to Ghaziabad late Thursday night. They sought the help of Ghaziabad police in nabbing Samar Singh from the Charms Castle (housing) society," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Ghaziabad City) Nipun Agarwal said.
"The accused is being presented in a Ghaziabad court for transit remand by the Varanasi police team," the DCP said on Friday morning.
Akanksha Dubey, a popular Bhojpuri actress, was found dead inside a hotel room in Varanasi on March 26. The 25-year-old actress was found hanging from the fan by a piece of cloth. Dubey, a resident of Bhadohi district, had gone to Varanasi to film a movie and was staying in the hotel.
Lawyer Shashak Shekhar Tripathi, who has taken up the case for the actress' mother Madhu Dubey, has raised a question mark on the post-mortem report and said that he was seeking the advice of medical experts and based on it preparing questions for the police.
Tripathi had on Wednesday demanded a probe by the CBI or CB-CID into the matter. In a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, he alleged that the 25-year-old actress' death was not by suicide, rather she was killed by some people in the hotel room.
He also alleged that Akansha's body was "forcibly cremated" despite her mother's insistence that the cremation should happen only after the post-mortem report arrives.
Many known people in the Bhojpuri industry were exploiting Dubey and were not paying her for her work, the lawyer had alleged.
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.
Kangana Ranaut sparks row: Claims Gandhi made 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram' the national anthem
New Delhi: A significant political controversy has erupted following the Modi government's decision to rename the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a move that has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties. The row was further fueled by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut, who, while defending the name change, erroneously claimed that Mahatma Gandhi had made the devotional song "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram" India’s national anthem.
The central government has rebranded the flagship rural employment scheme from MGNREGA to the "Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Employment and Livelihood Mission," abbreviated as VB-G RAM G. The removal of Mahatma Gandhi's name from the scheme has been termed an insult to the Father of the Nation by the Congress and other opposition parties.
When questioned by the media outside Parliament regarding the opposition's allegations, Mandi MP Kangana Ranaut defended the government's decision by invoking Mahatma Gandhi's devotion to Lord Ram.
"How is naming it 'Ram Ji' an insult to Gandhi ji?" Ranaut asked. "Mahatma Gandhi made 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram' the national anthem to organize the entire country. Therefore, this is an insult to Mahatma Gandhi? The government is fulfilling his dream by giving it the name of Ram."
Ranaut's claim regarding the national anthem was immediately seized upon by the opposition. Congress leader Supriya Shrinate shared the video of Ranaut’s statement on social media, tweeting sarcastically, "Come on brother, today we learned a new national anthem! The BJP is full of such gems."
Social media users also trolled the MP for the factual error. One user quipped, "Kangana ji forgot to mention that Bapu made this the national anthem after the country got independence in 2014," while another commented that the party finds people who "don't use their brains while forwarding WhatsApp messages."
Beyond the social media mockery, senior Congress leaders criticised the renaming on ideological grounds. Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took to X (formerly Twitter) to condemn the move.
"The biggest irony is that Mahatma Gandhi was a lifelong devotee of Lord Ram and said 'Hey Ram' in his last moments," Gehlot wrote. "Today, the central government is making a despicable attempt to sideline Gandhi ji under the guise of the same 'Ram' name (VB-G RAM G), which is highly condemnable."
मनरेगा का नाम बदलने की केंद्र सरकार की कवायद महात्मा गांधी के प्रति उनकी ओछी मानसिकता और असम्मान का प्रमाण है। सरकार पहले 'पूज्य बापू' के नाम का शिगूफा छोड़ती है और फजीहत होने पर अब 'विकसित भारत-गारंटी फॉर रोजगार एंड आजीविका मिशन (VB-G RAM G)' जैसा नाम थोपना चाहती है। बार-बार नाम…
— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) December 15, 2025
गांधी जी ने ‘रघुपति राघव राजा राम’ को लेकर नेशनल एंथम बनाया था
— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) December 16, 2025
BJP MP कंगना रनौत
चलो भाई आज नया नेशनल एंथम भी पता चला है!
BJP में एक से एक शिरोमणि भरे पड़े हैं 😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/9DvyV5xLb1
