Kasaragod: Rahul consoles families of three slain Youth Congress workers
Kasaragod/Kannur, Mar 14: Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday met with the family members of three slain Youth Congress activists allegedly killed by CPI-M workers and assured they will get justice.
Gandhi visited the homes of Kripesh and Sarath Lal, who were hacked to death last month in Kasaragod district, and met with the family members and consoled them.
"My promise to them is no matter what happens, they will get justice. We will ensure that whoever has done this will be punished. I understand the situation right now.
Let me assure those people who had done this, that justice is going to come to them," Gandhi told the media after visiting Kripesh's house at Kalyot in Kasaragod district.
Kripesh's father said Gandhi had assured them that a CBI probe would be ordered into their deaths.
According to sources, during his visit to Sarath Lal's family, Gandhi reportedly told the family that the All India Congress Committee has been viewing the incident seriously and promised all possible help to them.
The Youth Congress workers were allegedly hacked to death by assailants on February 17 as they were returning after a function.
Earlier, Gandhi spent around half an hour with the parents and sisters of slain activist Shuhaib at the Kannur international airport and extended the party's support to them, party sources said.
Senior Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Mullappally Ramachandran were among those present during the meeting.
Party sources said the Congress chief, who arrived on a day's visit to the state to officially kick start the party's Lok Sabha poll campaign, wanted to meet the family of Shuhaib, an alleged victim of political rivalry, despite his hectic schedule.
An active party man hailing from Mattannur near Kannur, Shuhaib, 29, had served as the Mattannur block Youth Congress secretary. He was hacked to death on the night of February 12 last year allegedly by CPI(M) activists.
A number of ruling party activists were arrested later in connection with the murder.
The opposition Congress-led UDF and Subhaib's family members had demanded a CBI inquiry into the killing.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
