Pune, July 29 (IANS) In a shocking incident, a 15-year-old schoolboy in Pimpri-Chinchwad jumped off his 14th floor home ostensibly to complete a task in the notorious Blue Whale online game, the police said here on Monday.

The boy, living in the posh Runwal Gate Society, was identified as Arya Shreerao, studying in a reputed school nearby. The incident has shaken parents and youngsters alike in the twin city.

According to an official of Ravet Police Station, the incident occurred on the night of July 25-26 and an accidental death report has been registered, while further investigations are underway.

Described as a shy but intelligent student studying in Class 10, the boy’s father works abroad while the mother learnt of Arya’s death in their housing society WhatsApp group later that morning.

Police said that the boy had even sketched his intentions on a sheet of paper – to complete the game by ending his life – after remaining locked in his room for several hours that night, even as the mother was in the next room.

He became addicted to the game around six months ago, and at times he would lock himself in his room for two-three days completing the so-called tasks demanded from the gamesters.

At that time, another unidentified boy was reportedly playing the game with him and is suspected to have made the demand to complete the final demand on Arya, which the police are now probing.

Incidentally, there have been vociferous protests at the easy availability of ‘killer games’ Blue Whale to youngsters with online campaigns seeking to block/ban them as they have caused the deaths of several people in India in the past few years.

–IANS

qn/pgh

Bhubaneswar, July 30 (IANS) Vigilance officials in Odisha on Monday unearthed properties worth crores of rupees reportedly possessed by a senior official of the Excise Department, and family members, during simultaneous raids at different places linked to the individual.

“On the allegation of possession of assets disproportionate to the known sources of income, simultaneous house searches were launched on the properties of Rama Chandra Mishra, Joint Commissioner of Excise, Bhubaneswar, on Monday at 10 places in Bhubaneswar, Subarnapur, Balangir, Bargarh etc.,” said a senior Vigilance department official.

The places where searches were carried out include his native house at Tarbha in Subarnapur district, the office room at IPICOL House at Rupali Square and rental accommodation in Khandagiri area of Bhubaneswar etc.

“Ten teams of Odisha Vigilance comprising 10 DSPs, 15 Inspectors and other supporting staff are conducting the search on the strength of Search Warrants issued by the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar,” added the official.

The sleuths have so far unearthed six multi-storey buildings including two in Bhubaneswar, two flats in Bhubaneswar and Bargarh, one non-operational Rice Mill at Tarbha in Subarnapur, one farmhouse, 52 plots including two in Sambalpur, three in Balangir, 47 in Subarnapur districts, deposits in bank worth Rs 22 lakh, gold ornaments weighing around 230 gm and silver about 317 gm, cash, three 2-wheelers and household articles worth over Rs 11.25 lakh.

–IANS

gyan/pgh

Bhubaneswar, July 29 (IANS) Leader of Opposition and former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday alleged that the first budget of the BJP government presented in the Assembly recently is a repetition of almost 80 per cent of the schemes introduced by his government.

While participating in the Budget discussions, Patnaik further asserted that the state government has allocated more than 80 per cent of the funds in the budget for the schemes introduced by the previous BJD government.

“This budget saw 80 per cent of our schemes being repeated. It shows the robustness, pro-people and progressive character of the schemes designed and implemented by the BJD government. The rest 20 per cent resource allocation is what they will use to implement their manifesto promises to the people of Odisha,” said Patnaik.

The BJD supremo said that the Budget for 2024-25 is a ‘Name Changer’ not a ‘Game Changer’ as claimed by the BJP government.

He accused Chief Minister Mohan Majhi of changing the names of 45 schemes of the previous BJD government.

He stated that BJP in its manifesto had promised to provide Rs 50,000 to every woman in the state under the Subhadra scheme.

“More than 2 crore women are there in Odisha. Further, this was promised to be given in two years. You will need Rs 1 lakh crore to fulfill this promise. You have kept only Rs 10,000 crore in this Budget. This will cover less than 10 per cent women of Odisha. What about the rest 1 crore 80 women?” Patnaik wondered.

“The BJP promised to increase pension to Rs 3,500 hundred per month. There are about 50 lakh pensioners in the state, out of which hardly 1 lakh pensioners will benefit as per the budget allocation,” he added.

The LoP alleged that the budgetary allocation earmarked for the social security pensions for the elderly, physically disabled and distressed persons is insufficient.

He criticised the government for paltry allocation to fulfil one of its major poll promises, Rs 3,100 per quintal MSP for farmers.

“The BJP promised Rs 3,100 per quintal MSP for farmers. The allocation kept in the Budget will not be adequate to cover even 30 per cent farmers. How do you plan to cover the remaining lakhs of farmers of Odisha?” Patnaik questioned.

He alleged that BJP cheated the people as the government will fail to provide 300 units of free ‘bijli’ (electricity) to all in the next five years which the BJP leaders had promised during the election campaigns. He also targeted the state government over the ‘paltry amount’ allocated for ‘Lakhpati Didi’ scheme and for the industrial corridor connecting Rourkela Sambalpur Paradip and Dhamra by June 2027.

–IANS

gyan/pgh

Chennai, July 30 (IANS) The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a ‘yellow alert’ for eight districts of Tamil Nadu for the next two days, saying heavy rainfall along with thunderstorms are expected.

Heavy rainfall with thunderstorms has been predicted in The Nilgiris , Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Tiruppur, Dindigul, Theni, Tenkasi and Tirunelveli districts of Tamil Nadu for the next two days.

The rest of the state will receive light to moderate rain for the next two days.

Wind is likely to blow between 35-45 kmph in the next 24 hours.

The IMD statement also said that various parts of Tamil Nadu, especially the coastal areas and Western Ghats are expected to receive heavy rains from August 1 onwards.

As per the Regional Meteorological Centre’s south-west monsoon rainfall data from June 1 to July 29, Tamil Nadu recorded 179 mm rainfall against the normal rainfall of 115 mm.

–IANS

aal/pgh

Guwahati, July 29 (IANS) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has asked all Deputy Commissioners (DCs) in the state to ensure vegetarian food items are served in government functions or during the visit of the Chief Minister and other Ministers to the districts.

The Chief Minister said that DCs have been asked to keep the government functions simple and solemn.

To reduce the VIP culture, Sarma told the DCs “in case of the Chief Minister’s visit to districts, the cavalcade should not consist of more than 10 cars, including that of DC and the Superintendent of Police”.

He also congratulated them on the successful and peaceful conduct of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 and asked the Deputy Commissioners to visit polling stations which registered over 95 per cent of polling.

“DCs have been asked to transform districts as fulcrum of administration to ensure suitable disbursal of benefits. With the laying of foundations, newly constituted sub-districts would start functioning from October 2.

“A core committee would be constituted at the state level to support DCs to delegate work to the sub-districts,” the CM said and asked the DCs to visit and supervise the under construction government buildings in their respective jurisdictions.

“They should actively involve themselves in the development processes of the district. DCs should expedite work on health, education and Anganwadi Centres as they hold immense potential for development,” Sarma added.

He directed the DCs to distribute flood rehabilitation grants by August 12.

–IANS

sc/pgh