RAJOURI
After sending hundreds of people in isolation and quarantine, for the first time a horse was put under home quarantine when it helped in ferrying its owner from a red zone of Shopian district to green zone in Rajouri. Even if no animal reported to be positive in Jammu and Kashmir but this horse was kept in isolation at home from other animals at least till his owner’s tests are out. The horse rider was intercepted by police while he was entering his home district Rajouri from Shopian in south Kashmir via Mughal Road, the road presently closed due to snowfall. The man has also been sent to administrative quarantine and his sample taken for COVID-19 testing.
REASI
Panic gripped the civil administration, which decided to stay in Jammu and avoid annual Darbar move due to the Coronavirus scare when the news was public that wife and son of an advisor to the lieutenant governor have tested positive. The advisor has been put under isolation and his departments were allotted to his colleague. The mother-son duo, who had come from Delhi, have already been admitted to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana super speciality hospital in Kakryal area of Reasi district.
BUDGAM
It seems like bad luck is never going to leave the residents of Tosa Maidan even after the firing range has been shifted from this place. Last week at least three people were injured, one seriously, when an old leftover shell exploded. Nearly 70 people were killed and scores injured due to the explosions of old live shells in this meadow that used to be the firing range from 1964 to April 2014.
KATHUA
Borders are for humans, animals hardly understand this language. Last week when Geeta Devi found a pink coloured pigeon in her house in Chadwal near the International Border and spotted a ring with numbers on its leg, she informed the village head and then nearby BSF team who captured the bird and handed over to the local police station in Hira Nagar. But it turned out to be an embarrassing situation for everyone who was claiming to have captured a “Pak spy”. The police even made special arrangements to hang the cage above the ground to keep the suspect safe. But later a resident of Sialkot claimed to be the owner of the pigeon saying it belongs to him and he has written his phone number also on the leg of the bird. He has requested the government of both neighbouring countries to return his bird home he had flown on Eid. Lately, the pigeon has been set free without any charges.
KULGAM
In the times of Coronavirus, when Kulgam is turning out to be the district with the highest number of positive cases, a lady Mehbooba Banu, a resident of Kadder, was booked last week in the case of extortion. She has taken around Rs 80,000 from Nazir of Tungdunoo, who was called by the police for questioning in connection with a militancy-related input. When nothing surfaced against him, he was allowed to proceed home without charges. But Banu along with her family approached Nazir and his family and started threatening him that he will be arrested again unless he pays them Rs one lakh. She had told the family she will transfer the money to the cops to protect him from further detention. The poor family collected Rs 80,000 rupees and gave it to her. The lady has been arrested now and booked under relevant crime.
JAMMU
The crime-related incidents have increased over some years in the Jammu and Kashmir. Last week when the decomposed body of a fourteen-year-old boy Ritik Kumar, a class 9th student, was found by a dog squad in Satwari area, his family cried foul. They claimed that Ritik had gone missing after he got a call from his friend and left the house, but never came back. The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Shridhar Patil has rounded up a few suspects in the case but the family has alleged that the boy had been murdered.
BARAMULLA
Just a day before Eid when people were struggling to buy meat and chicken amid the Coronavirus fear, a butcher was arrested in Sheeri Baramulla not for selling the meat at increased rates but for selling rotten meat. The residents acted smartly when they smelled foul and informed the police. Following the public outcry and complaint, a magistrate along with a police party when reached on the spot he found meat stinking and not fit for human consumption. The incident was shot on mobile phones and the videos were viral on social media sites. In Srinagar, a local Mohalla Committee sealed a butchers shop.
UTTAR PRADESH
Day by day it is getting difficult for Kashmiri students studying in mainland India. After a case against a student on her 2019 social media post, now two Kashmiri students studying in Aligarh Muslim University have been booked over a Facebook post. Reportedly the police have filed a case based on a written complaint from a local Hindu nationalist leader student leader, Deepak Sharma Aazad, against the duo at Atrauli police station. The case has been booked under sections 153-A, 153-B, 66-D IT Act of the Indian Penal Code.
PULWAMA
A small aerial video clip was viral on social networking sites on Thursday after which it came to public notice that the local police have averted an IED blast when they found a Santro car fitted with 40 to 45 kilograms of explosives in Rajpora. The police claimed that it could have been a 2019 types attack. The IGP Kashmir said in a press conference that the car was stopped at two checking points but the driver fled away and left the car behind at second checkpoint late night near Ayengund. But next morning a bomb disposal squad reached the spot and later diffused the IED in the vehicle “in a technical way.”
BOSTON
Amid the Coronavirus scare when life is limping back to routine, the Grogan & Company has announced that their annual Spring auction will take place this year on June 14 at the company’s Boston headquarters. The bidding and auction will take place online and the final sale day will be live-streamed for the convenience of the people. The auction, which features a curated selection of over 450 lots of fine art, jewellery, silver, and decorative arts from private collections and estates, will be brought to life for all taking part remotely thanks to several exciting new features. The 207 jewellery pieces in The Spring Auction includes a 4.81 carat unheated Kashmir sapphire estimated at $80,000-120,000.
