New Delhi, July 16: A retired Indian Foreign Service officer shot himself at his Delhi residence today.
Rakesh Shankar, 62, a 1979 batch officer, was undergoing treatment for some prolonged ailment at a private hospital and was discharged in the morning, a senior police officer said.
“He used his licensed weapon to kill himself. We have recovered the .32 bore revolver from the spot,” the officer added.
Shankar shot himself around 3pm in his bedroom. His only son heard the gunshot and rushed to find him lying in a pool of blood.
“His family members told us that he was not suffering from any depression. No suicide note was found,” the police officer added. Shankar’s last posting was to the United Arab Emirates.
New Delhi (PTI): The Union HRD ministry has received two complaints of sexual harassment, including one against the chairman of the National Institute of Open Schooling filed by a former joint director of the NIOS. The registrar of Sri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidhyapeetha in Delhi has been issued a showcause notice in the other case.
New Delhi (PTI): More than 670 dams across the country fall under high-intensity seismic zones, Jitendra Singh, minister of state for earth science, has said in the Rajya Sabha. Gujarat tops the list with 444 such dams, followed by Maharashtra, which has 170.
Shirdi (PTI): The Saibaba temple in Shirdi has received donations worth Rs 4.47 crore during the Guru Poornima festival held last week. The shrine received cash and jewellery worth Rs 3.10 crore and Rs 1.46 in online donation, an official said.
Kollam (PTI): A 26-year-old woman died on Monday in a Kerala village, allegedly because of injuries inflicted by an exorcist hired by her father to free her from “evil spirits”. The post-mortem report confirmed the wounds. The girl’s father has been arrested. The exorcist is on the run.
New Delhi, July 16 (PTI): Any government employee found guilty of making a fraudulent LTC claim may be penalised and barred from getting travel allowance for the next two to three years, Union minister Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha today.
Singh’s department of personnel and training had received a letter from the CVC about irregularities in LTC claimed by central employees, including those in banks, Singh said. The matter is being probed by the CBI.
New Delhi (PTI): The human resource and development ministry has asked the UGC to conduct an investigation into instances where sanction letters were issued to colleges not eligible for grants, minister Smriti Irani has told the Lok Sabha. A separate police probe is also on, she said.
New Delhi (PTI): As many as 94 cases of alleged corruption were registered against IAS officers of the level of joint secretary and above in the past three years by the CBI, Union minister Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The investigation in 55 of the cases was completed, he said.
New Delhi (PTI): The National Crime Records Bureau has for the first time begun collecting and maintaining data related to attacks on the media since January this year, information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar has told the Lok Sabha.
Dubai (PTI): The decomposed bodies of an Indian film producer, his wife and daughter have been found in mysterious circumstances in their Dubai flat, Khaleej Times reported. Kerala’s Santhosh Kumar was a co-producer of the Malayalam movie Madambi. It is also learnt that the case is being treated as a suicide pact involving the couple and their daughter.
Srinagar (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir High Court has ruled out re-investigation into the death of two women in Shopian in 2009. It said the report of a one-man judicial commission could not form the basis for ordering a fresh probe.
New Delhi, July 16 (PTI): One-third of the world’s extremely poor live in India which also recorded the highest number of under-five deaths, the latest United Nations Millennium Development Goals report has said.
Almost 60 per cent of the people who defecate in the open also reside in India, the report said. Minority affairs minister Najma Heptulla, who released the report here, said the findings posed a challenge to the government.
New Delhi (PTI): Private FM channels will be allowed to broadcast news only from bulletins of All India Radio, but the policy can be relaxed in the future, information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
New Delhi (PTI): There are more than 6,500 corruption cases pending in various CBI courts across the country. Delhi accounts for 756 such cases, followed by Maharashtra, which has 691. Bengal comes next with 646 pending cases, minister of state for personnel Jitendra Singh has said in the Lok Sabha.
New Delhi (PTI): The Isro plans to launch a GSAT-15 satellite in the current financial year and a GSAT-16 by the middle of next year, the Centre has informed the Lok Sabha. The government has allocated Rs 859 crore for GSAT-15 and Rs 865 crore for GSAT-16.
Kanpur (PTI): A youth posing as a Gujarati businessman on a matrimonial website has allegedly duped a family of Rs 5 lakh. He took the cash from the girl’s father saying he wanted to start a business in Kanpur. He also gave them a forged cheque of Rs 20 lakh to organise the engagement, which was fixed for May 8. He then disappeared.
Ludhiana (PTI): A couple who own a garment outlet in Ludhiana have been booked for installing a hidden camera in the trial room. A customer saw the camera and went to police after the owners feigned ignorance.
