UP: Journalist, wife consume poison on camera over 'harassment' by SDM, two others
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Pilibhit (UP) (PTI): A local journalist and his wife here posted a video on social media accusing a sub-divisional magistrate, a nagar panchayat chairman and a contractor of harassment and consumed poison on camera on Thursday, police said.
According to officers from Barkheda police station, Israr alleged in the video that they were driven to taking the extreme step due to ongoing harassment by Bisalpur sub-divisional magistrate Nagendra Pandey, Barkheda nagar panchayat chairman Shyam Bihari Bhojwal and contractor Moin Hussain.
The couple was rushed to the district hospital, where Israr is said to be out of danger while his wife is in a critical condition, an officer said.
In the purported video, Israr claimed that he had recently published a news report on an alleged corruption in the Barkheda nagar panchayat, which he claimed caught the attention of the Chief Minister's Office.
Following this, Israr said he began to be harassed. Hussain, Bhojwal and Pandey continuously threatened the family and falsely implicated them in a case, he claimed.
"We are drinking poison and ending our lives. Yogi ji, we need justice," Israr said in the video.
Responding to the viral video, sub-divisional magistrate Pandey told media that he has directed the Barkheda Station House Officer to investigate the matter.
He dismissed the allegations as "baseless" and claimed "there is no such issue."
Bisalpur Circle Officer Prateek Dahiya told reporters that the police are conducting a thorough investigation from all angles.
Meanwhile, Bhojwal, in his statement to the press, said that he has no involvement in the incident.
"I have come to know about the incident, but I have nothing to do with it. There may have been some dispute with the contractor," he said.
Contractor Hussain defended himself by claiming that Israr had visited one of his construction sites on May 18 and allegedly demanded Rs 15,000, and threatened to publish a negative news report if his demand was not met.
Hussain claimed that Israr used abusive language and issued death threats.
He added that he had filed a complaint with the police following the incident.
The couple's family members claimed that Israr and his wife were facing continuous harassment. They accused Pandey, Bhojwal and Hussain of issuing threats and framing them in false cases, with the police also being allegedly complicit.
The family demanded that a case be registered against the three individuals named in the video.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the state’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416.)
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
