Lucknow, April 18 (IANS) Days after gangster Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were gunned down by three youth while in police custody in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Tuesday that no mafia or criminal can threaten industrialists in the state anymore.
The Chief Minister said: "Before 2017, the state was infamous for riots. More than 700 riots rocked the state between 2012 and 2017. But not a single riot broke out after 2017. Earlier, just the names of many districts scared people. Now there is no need to be scared.
"Few years back, there was a crisis for the identity of the state... Today the state is becoming a crisis for criminals. No criminal can threaten any businessman in the state any more."
Adityanath was addressing a programme to mark the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up textile parks in Lucknow and Hardoi districts. The textile parks are being set up under the PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) scheme.
As many as two dozen fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the fire and the operation lasted more than six hours. More than two dozen fire tenders are on the spot, trying to douse the inferno.
Officials of the central jail have not confirmed his release prematurely. Sidhu on May 20, 2022, surrendered before a court in Patiala in a 1988 road rage case that had led to the death of a 65-year-old man.
Out of total 36 people who died in the heart wrenching incident, the youngest victim was a two-year-old boy, Hitansh, while the eldest one was an 80-year-old woman identified as Jayvanti Devi, according to police. Most of the victims were women.
The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday gave nod for hiking the compensation due to unseasonal rains by 25 per cent per acre. A decision to this effect was taken by the Council of Ministers at its meeting held here.
The court had, on March 20, sent him to judicial custody till April 3. Judge Nagpal observed that the payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crore was meant for him and his other colleagues in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
The Delhi government has called an emergency meeting after the Covid cases spiked on Wednesday. A total of 300 new Covid infections in the last 24 hours were recorded in the national capital, which is a rise over Tuesday's 214 cases, as per the Delhi government health bulletin.
