BJP appoints central observer for election of Manipur legislature party leader; new govt likely soon
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP Parliamentary Board on Monday appointed party national general secretary Tarun Chugh as the central observer for the election of the legislature party leader in Manipur, indicating the possible formation of a popular government in the Northeastern state.
The move came as NDA MLAs from Manipur arrived in the national capital after being summoned by the BJP central leadership, ostensibly to discuss the formation of government in the state where the current spell of the President's rule will expire next week.
"The BJP Parliamentary Board has appointed Tarun Chugh, National General Secretary, as Central Observer for the election of the Legislature Party Leader in Manipur," party national general secretary Arun Singh said in a statement.
Manipur has been under the President's rule since February 13, 2025, following months of ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities.
The central rule was imposed after the BJP-led government headed by Biren Singh resigned on February 9, 2025. The 60-member state assembly, whose tenure is till 2027, was put under suspended animation.
The BJP legislature party meeting is expected to take place on Tuesday. It is likely to be held at the party headquarters in Delhi.
Nearly 20 MLAs arrived on Sunday night, while others reached here on Monday following the direction of the BJP leadership.
The legislature party meeting will be held days ahead of the expiry of the second spell of the President's rule, which was first imposed on February 13, 2025, for six months and then extended for another six months in August 2025.
Those who have arrived in the national capital include former chief minister N Biren Singh, Assembly Speaker Satyabrata Singh and former minister Y Khemchand Singh. BJP state president A Sharda Devi is also in Delhi.
The BJP central leadership had held several rounds of separate meetings with its Meitei and Kuki MLAs, allies NPF and NPP and a few Independent legislators over the last few months to gauge their views on whether the political situation was conducive for the formation of a popular government, the sources said.
On December 14, 2025, BJP's national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh and the party's Northeast coordinator Sambit Patra met BJP MLAs from both the warring Meitei and Kuki communities in Delhi under one roof.
Currently, there are 37 BJP MLAs in Manipur. Originally, a total of 32 BJP MLAs had won the 2022 assembly elections.
The JD(U) had won six seats, and five of its MLAs later defected to the BJP, taking the strength of the saffron party to 37.
Among the other MLAs, six are from the National People's Party (NPP), five from the Naga People's Front, five from the Congress, two from the Kuki People's Alliance (KPA) , one from Janata Dal (United) and three Independents. There is one vacant seat following the death of a sitting MLA.
After the imposition of the President's rule, Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla had taken a number of steps to restore peace and bring back normalcy, including asking those who looted arms from security forces to surrender them.
The ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities started in May 2023 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
At least 260 people lost their lives and thousands were displaced during the violence.
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Bank account in Ramgarh tracked for fraudulent fund transactions across 24 states, 4 arrested
Ramgarh (Jharkhand) (PTI): Jharkhand police on Thursday said it has unearthed a network of interstate cyber frauds and arrested four miscreants for fraudulent transactions through a bank account in Ramgarh district after complaints of 274 suspected transactions in 24 states.
The states where complaints for fraudulent transactions were registered included Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
The action followed inputs received through 'Samanvaya portal', a centralised, web-based platform launched by the Union Home Ministry to curb cybercrime.
"We arrested four cyber miscreants after a current account with Kuju (Ramgarh) branch of the State Bank of India was found to have registered suspected financial transactions in 24 states with the help of the Pratibimba portal of the Home Ministry through the Samanvaya portal," Ramgarh Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar Lunayat said.
During the probe, police found that the account was opened under the MSME Udyam Registration scheme in the name of Shree Ganesh Enterprises, he said.
The account had been linked to as many as 274 complaints from different states related to cyber fraud and illegal fund transfers.
The registered proprietors of the enterprise were identified as Rahul Gupta (37), Ravi Kumar Verma (34), and Ajay Sharma (33), all residents of Ramgarh district, a statement from the Ramgarh police said.
During interrogation, Rahul Gupta and Ravi Kumar Verma revealed that they had opened multiple current accounts at the behest of Ritesh Agrawal alias Munna (40) and Sonu Kumar Jha (34).
They admitted receiving Rs 1.2 lakh in exchange for facilitating the opening of these accounts.
"The accused further confessed to sharing OTPs, activating mobile banking services, and handing over control of the accounts to the main operators through WhatsApp and Telegram groups. These accounts were then allegedly used to route fraudulent transactions.
Police said mobile data analysis of the accused led to the recovery of crucial digital evidence, including details of SIM cards, bank accounts, passbooks, ATM cards, QR code scanners, Aadhaar cards, and PAN cards shared through messaging platforms.
A total of four accused have been arrested so far and sent to judicial custody.
A case has been registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Further investigation is underway, the police said.
