Newsmakers

ELECTED: Mohammed Shahnawaz Chaudhary has been elected the President and Pranab Shagotra as the Vice President of J&K Youth Congress. Chaudhary bagged 1,555 votes and Shagotra 1,458 votes.

ATTACHED: State government attached Ravinder Gupta, Managing Director of JKFED with the office of Registrar Cooperative Societies and ordered an enquiry against him. Many allegations against Gupta have surfaced from time to time. He is accused of bungling of funds with regard to the purchase of cement, LPG cylinders and NAFED tea. The enquiry committee has been asked to submit its report within 15 days.

VISITED: Ghulam Nabi Azad after expressing dissatisfaction over the progress of work on National Highway -1D, stressed that work on such projects should be carried out in double or triple shifts keeping in view the difficulties faced by the people of these regions. He also directed that the work on the 6-Km Zojila tunnel in the first phase at the cost of Rs 3100 crore will start in August this year.

INAUGURATED: Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah inaugurated 18 KW Solar Power Plant at Sub district Hospital, Charief-e-Sharief. The union ministry have approved 69 solar power plant worth Rs 32.70 crore, for the state to be installed in as many health institutions as backup power supply units.

INITIATED: Syed Ali Shah Geelani, chairman Hurriyat Conference (G) started the first official online campaign for the release of Dr Qasim Faktoo, a Muslim league leader on facebook in Kashmir. Dr Faktoo has completed his Ph.D in jail and is one of the longest serving detainees in Kashmir, Geelani said, he has completed his detention period and is held on “anonymous grounds” now.

APPEALED: Family of Asra Shafi, 6, in Kupwara has appealed to Sarmad Hafeez, the newly appointed District Development Commissioner and Mohammed Irshad, Superintendent of Police to investigate Asra’s murder. The throat slit body of Asra was found outside a middle school a year back and till now police has failed to make any headway.

SUMMONED: Sahil Peerzada, a Kashmiri-born Mumbai based businessman has been summoned by the income tax (I-T) department after media claimed that owned assets worth Rs 3000 crore. Peerzada was recently in the news after he had a fight with an Australian cricketer at a party. Though Peerzada denied having been called by the IT department, he says, he will “surely visit them if called along with all the relevant documents”.

TOPPED: For the first time a girl from Bhaderwah has topped a DM exam conducted by AIIMS, her name is Dr Nidhi Iqbal Shapoo. She worked under the guidance of Dr Vinod Raina, a renowned Oncologist.

EXTENDED: State government has given fourth extension of two months to the Commission of Inquiry (COI) to complete the probe into the death of Syed Mohammed Yousuf , an NC worker. It was initially asked to finish its probe within six weeks.

PLANNED: The J&K Tourism Development Corporation is reopening Budshah hotel in Srinagar after remaining closed for 26 years. The project is worth Rs 4 crore, so far Rs 3 crore have been spent on its construction. The hotel would have four big halls with a dimension of 20,000 square feet per hall.

ARRESTED: Sajjad Ahmed Bhat and Wasim Ahmed Bhat, two teenaged Kashmiri students of Jamiatul Falah, a madrassa in Azamgarh were arrested by UP ATS at Aligarh railway station, Hindi daily Dainik Jagran reported. Three days have passed, however, neither their parents nor their friends in madrass know their whereabouts. They have not been produced in any court either. Jamiatul Falah has filed a report of abduction in this case in a local police station.

SNATCHED: Suspected militants snatched and escaped with four SLR rifles from the security picket guarding a minority community in Tral, Pulwama. The concerned DIG said the rifles were snatched because of the negligence of policemen. An FIR has been registered; two policemen and two SPOs were suspended. Mohammad Qasim, Head Constable; Mushtaq Ahmad, Constable and an SPO were also arrested while one is still absconding.

ARRESTED: Police arrested Mohammed Sadiq of Surankote, Poonch, a militant, affiliated with JKLF, who returned to this side after more than 19 years from PaK. He was produced before sub judge Surankote and remanded to four-days police custody for sustained interrogation.

PROTESTED: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Chairman of Huriyat Conference (M), led a huge procession from Jamia Masjid to Mirwaiz Manzil, Rajouri Kadal to protest against the raid and desecration of religious books at Mirwaiz Manzil. Mirwaiz called for unification and said that divisive forces will not be allowed to succeed.