Congress leader and spokesperson Rajiv Tyagi dies of heart attack
New Delhi: Congress leader and spokesperson Rajiv Tyagi passed away on Wednesday after a heart attack, the party said. He was 52.
Tyagi suffered the attack soon after participating in a TV debate from his residence in Sector 16 of Vasundhara in Ghaziabad and fell unconscious, sources said.
He was immediately rushed to the Yashoda Hospital in Kaushambi, Ghaziabad, where doctors tried to revive him, but could not, the sources added.
Doctors said he probably breathed his last on the way to the hospital.
Tyagi was a regular Congress face in TV debates and his last tweet came around 3.40 pm Wednesday in which he said he was scheduled to take part in a debate at 5 PM.
After finishing the debate, Tyagi asked his domestic help to prepare tea for him and himself lay down on his bed, his family members said.
But when the house help brought the tea after a few minutes, he did not respond, they said.
His brother-in-law Deepak Tyagi told PTI that a nearby doctor was called for an emergency check-up, but after efforts to revive him failed, Tyagi was immediately rushed to the Yashoda hospital, where the doctors declared him "brought dead".
Tyagi is survived by his wife and two sons.
A host of Congress and BJP leaders, besides Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Ram Vilas Paswan expressed their condolences to the family.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra spoke to Tyagi's wife on phone and expressed their condolences while remembering his contribution to the party.
The Congress tweeted, "We are deeply saddened by the sudden demise of Shri Rajiv Tyagi. A staunch Congressman and a true patriot. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this time of grief.
In his condolence message, Rahul Gandhi said the Congress lost one of its lions today .
The inspiration of Rajiv Tyagi's love and struggle for the Congress will always be remembered. My heartfelt tribute to him and condolences to the family," he tweeted in Hindi.
In her tweet, Priyanka Gandhi said Tyagi's untimely demise is a big loss for all.
"The untimely death of Congress spokesman Rajiv Tyagi is a personal grief to me. It is an irreparable loss for all of us. Rajiv ji was an ideologically dedicated warrior. I expressed condolences to his family on behalf of the entire Uttar Pradesh Congress. May God give strength to his family to bear this loss," she said.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "Deeply saddened to hear the shocking news of untimely death of young congress leader & spokesperson Rajiv Tyagi. My heartfelt condolences to the family to bear the irreparable loss."
AICC general secretary KC Venugopal said, "Saddened and shocked to hear about the sudden demise of our colleague and Congress national spokesperson Shri Rajiv Tyagi. My condolences to his family and friends in this time of grief. May his soul rest in peace."
Party chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said he was speechless on hearing about Tyagi's demise. He said it is a personal loss for him.
Saddened to know of untimely demise of INC national spokesperson, Sh. Rajiv Tyagi. He served the party dedicatedly. My heartfelt condolences to his family members & friends, tweeted Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said Tyagi's death was an irreparable loss for the party.
BJP MP Anil Baluni, who also heads the party's media department, expressed his shock at the death of Tyagi, saying he was an affable and emotional person.
Several BJP spokespersons, who regularly debated with Tyagi in TV shows, expressed their sorrow at his demise.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, who was on a TV debate with Tyagi just before his death, said, "I cannot believe that my friend Rajiv Tyagi is no more. We were together in a TV debate at 5 PM. Life is very uncertain. I don't have words to express. May God give Rajiv ji a place in his feet."
Tyagi will be cremated Thursday morning at Hindon crematorium, party sources said.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
