Thiruvananthapuram: "Never be defeated, Never give up", said Pranjal Patil, the country's first visually challenged woman IAS officer, as she assumed charge as the Sub Collector of Thiruvananthapuram here on Monday.

"...we should never be defeated and we should never give up because with our efforts all of us will get that one breakthrough which we want", the 30-year old Kerala cadre officer told mediapersons here.

Patil, who hails from Ulhasnagar in Maharashtra, had lost her vision when she was just six years old.

She cracked the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination in 2016 and secured 773rd rank and improved her ranking to 124 the next year.

Patil was appointed Ernakulam Assistant Collector during her training period.

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Sivasagar/Guwahati (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday slammed the Congress for “not verifying” the documents based on which it brought allegations against him and his family.

Congress leader Pawan Khera had on Sunday alleged that Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, has multiple passports and foreign property, which were not declared in the chief minister’s election affidavit.

Sarma also hit out at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, claiming that he was “speaking like a madman” due to old age, after the latter put the onus on central agencies to probe the charges.

The CM asserted that Khera had “run away” to Hyderabad, but the Assam Police will “hunt him down even from ‘pataal’ (netherworld)”.

“‘Assam Police ko nahi jante hain.. Pataal se bhi ukhar ke le ayega’ (They don’t know the Assam Police... they will hunt him down even from the netherworld),” asserted Sarma.

An Assam Police team had earlier in the day visited the Delhi residence of Khera for questioning him in connection with the case.

“If they didn’t know the truth, why did they put it out in public? They should have asked the foreign minister first,” Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of an election campaign, when asked for his reaction to Kharge’s assertion that the Union government should probe the allegations now.

Kharge, at a presser in Guwahati on Tuesday, said all agencies are under the central government, which should probe the charges.

"They have already filed an FIR against Khera. Let them probe the matter. We will face the case as it progresses. We have sought probes by the ED or CBI into the allegations," he said.

Sarma added: “Kharge is ageing and is speaking like a ‘pagal’ (madman). You insult the people first and then say will ask the foreign minister (for verification)? Is he your ‘damad’ (son-in-law),” the chief minister said.

“I think Rahul Gandhi had given these documents to Khera, and if that is so, the case will then include Gandhi,” he added.