'Rafale for India not to be ready for Bengaluru air show'
Bengaluru, Sep 30: The controversial Rafale fighter India ordered would not be ready to fly at the Bengaluru air show in February, an IAF official said on Sunday.
"Rafale for India will not be ready by February. We expect Dassault to fly some other Rafale at the Aero India show here on February 20-24, 2019," Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal R.K. Singh Bhadauria told IANS at a press conference here.
The French aerospace major (Dassault Aviation) is set to deliver 36 Rafales multi-role medium combat aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in fly-away condition from September 2019 onwards.
The 12th edition of the 5-day biennial air show will be held at IAF's Yelahanka base on the city's northern outskirts as before.
"We hope Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate it though the Ministry of Defence will take a call on it," said Bhadauria when asked who would flag off the mega show.
The state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will play a major role in organising the air show, instead of the Defence Exhibition Organisation which has been hosting the event over years, he added.
The advanced fourth generation fighter Rafale will partly replace the ageing Russian-built MiG-21 jets the IAF is phasing out due to their obsolescence.
The Deputy Chief of Air Staff was present at a press conference addressed by Defence Minister at the Yelahanka air base.
Asked about the overhauling of Rafale in the absence of HAL as its Indian partner, Sitharaman said the joint statement of April 10, 2015 between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then French President Francois Hollande had addressed all the issues, including servicing of the fighter.
"Our agreement has achieved a much better deal than the non-deal by theAUPA," the Defence Minister said.
The Modi government had approached the Rafale deal with a "sense of urgency" understanding the strengths of Pakistan and China, she said.
"With the depleting squadron strength from 42 to 33, we had gone in to get 36 aircraft in fly-away condition. That was the sense of urgency with which we have attended to the issue," the Minister stressed.
With a "desperation" to return to power, Congress was raising Rafale issue, Sitharaman claimed.
"In over four years, there's not even a whisper of corruption in this government. But desperate to get power, they (Congress) have been indulging in hit-and-run tactics," she alleged.
The Congress party was also shedding "crocodile tears" for HAL alleging that it missed out on thousands of jobs over the Rafale deal, she said.
"An intergovernmental deal only dictates the requirements of a contract. The offset rules are governed by offset regulations," Sitharaman added.
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Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
