Chinmayanand case: Shahjahanpur woman examined at hospital

Agencies
September 11, 2019

Shahjahanpur, Sept 11: A special investigation team on Wednesday took the student who has accused BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand of raping, and "physically exploiting" her for a year to a hospital for medical examination.

She was taken to the local medical college hospital under heavy security, where Chief Medical Officer Dr Anita Dhasmana said the woman was examined by a panel of doctors.

Meanwhile, terming the whole episode a conspiracy against him, Chinmayanand on Wednesday expressed full faith in the SIT probe.

"I have full faith in the SIT team and everything will be clear once it is completed. This is a conspiracy against me," Chinmayanand told news agency.

The father of the woman had claimed that during the search at the hostel room of her daughter on Tuesday, some objectionable material was found, which was "planted" by vested interests before the room was sealed by the local police.

He said his daughter had only one key of the room and some things belonging to her were missing.

Meanwhile, a video featuring a woman and an elderly has started doing rounds on social media.

In the video, the woman is shown massaging an elderly.

Another woman and some youths are shown talking about the "rangdari" (extortion) demand of Rs 5 crore.

Members of the SIT, accompanied by forensic experts, had on Tuesday inspected the hostel room of the complainant for nearly eight hours and collected evidence.

The woman had told media persons on Monday that the Shahjahanpur police was reluctant to register a case of rape against the 72-year-old BJP leader.

The woman had appeared before the press, alleging that Chinmayanand had raped her, and also "physically exploited" her for a year.

The woman had said she had all the proof and the hostel room where she stayed should be opened in front of the media.

"On Sunday, the SIT quizzed me for about 11 hours. I have told them about the rape. Even after telling them everything, they have not arrested Chinmayanand yet," she had alleged.

She had said that when her father gave a complaint to police here about her physical exploitation, Shahjahanpur District Magistrate Indra Vikram Singh "issued threats", asking her father to file "a missing complaint" instead.

The SIT, headed by Inspector General Naveen Arora, was set up by the Uttar Pradesh government on a Supreme Court directive.

It is looking into details of the probe conducted by the local police in the high-profile matter.

The apex court had said that an Allahabad High Court bench would monitor the probe.

The inspector general heading the SIT had said the probe report would be submitted to the Supreme Court in a sealed envelope.

The SIT was formed last Tuesday, a day after the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the case and directed the state government to investigate the charges levelled by the student.

The victim had gone missing on August 24, a day after she posted a video on social media, alleging that a "senior leader of the sant community" was harassing and threatening to kill her.

She was located in Dausa district of Rajasthan last Friday.

Her father had filed a complaint with police, accusing 72-year-old Chinmayanand of sexually harassing her, a charge refuted by the former Union minister's lawyer who claimed it was a "conspiracy" to blackmail him.

Police had on August 27 booked Chinmayanand under Sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code based on the her father's complaint.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 15: Air India Express has announced that it will resume direct flight services between Mangaluru and Muscat from March 2026, restoring an important international air link for passengers from the coastal region.

Airport authorities said the service will operate twice a week—on Sundays and Tuesdays—from March 1. The initial flights are scheduled on March 3, 8 and 10, followed by March 15 and 17, with the same operating pattern to continue thereafter. The flight duration is approximately three hours and 25 minutes.

The Mangaluru–Muscat route was earlier operated under the 2025 summer schedule, with services beginning on July 14. At that time, Air India Express had operated four flights a week before suspending the service.

Officials said the summer schedule will come into effect from March 29, after which changes in flight timings and departure schedules from Mangaluru are expected. Passengers have been advised to check the latest schedules while planning their travel.

The resumption of direct flights to Muscat is expected to significantly benefit expatriates, business travellers and others, further strengthening Mangaluru’s air connectivity with the Gulf region.

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News Network
December 13,2025

New Delhi: School-going children are picking up drug and smoking habits and engaging in consumption of alcohol, with the average age of introduction to such harmful substances found to be around 13 years, suggesting a need for earlier interventions as early as primary school, a multi-city survey by AIIMS-Delhi said.

The findings also showed substance use increased in higher grades, with grade XI/XII students two times more likely to report use of substances when compared with grade VIII students. This emphasised the importance of continued prevention and intervention through middle and high school.

The study led by Dr Anju Dhawan of AIIMS's National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, published in the National Medical Journal of India this month, looks at adolescent substance use across diverse regions.

The survey included 5,920 students from classes 8, 9, 11 and 12 in urban government, private and rural schools across 10 cities -- Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Ranchi. The data were collected between May 2018 and June 2019.

The average age of initiation for any substance was 12.9 (2.8) years. It was lowest for inhalants (11.3 years) followed by heroin (12.3 years) and opioid pharmaceuticals (without prescription; 12.5 years).

Overall, 15.1 per cent of participants reported lifetime use, 10.3 per cent reported past year use, and 7.2 per cent reported use in the past month of any substance, the study found.

The most common substances used in the past year, after tobacco (4 per cent) and alcohol (3.8 per cent), were opioids (2.8 per cent), followed by cannabis (2 per cent) and inhalants (1.9 per cent). Use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical opioids was most common among opioid users (90.2 per cent).

On being asked, 'Do you think this substance is easily available for a person of your age' separately for each substance category, nearly half the students (46.3 per cent) endorsed that tobacco products and more than one-third of the students (36.5 per cent) agreed that a person of their age can easily procure alcohol products.

Similarly, for Bhang (21.9 per cent), ganja/charas (16.1 per cent), inhalants (15.2 per cent), sedatives (13.7 per cent), opium and heroin (10 per cent each), the students endorsed that these can be easily procured.

About 95 per cent of the children, irrespective of their grade, agreed with the statement that 'drug use is harmful'.

The rates of substance use (any) among boys were significantly higher than those of girls for substance use (ever), use in the past year and use in the past 30 days. Compared to grade VIII students, grade IX students were more likely, and grade XI/XII students were twice as likely to have used any substance (ever).

The likelihood of past-year use of any substance was also higher for grade IX students and for grade XI/XII students as compared to grade VIII students.

About 40 per cent of students mentioned that they had a family member who used tobacco or alcohol each. The use of cannabis (any product) and opioid (any product) by a family member was reported by 8.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent of students, respectively, while the use of other substances, such as inhalants/sedatives by family was 2-3 per cent, the study found.

A relatively smaller percentage of students reported use of tobacco or alcohol among peers as compared to among family members, while a higher percentage reported inhalants, sedatives, cannabis or opioid use among peers.

Children using substances (past year) compared to non-users reported significantly higher any substance use by their family members and peers.

There were 25.7 per cent students who replied 'yes' to the question 'conflicts/fights often occur in your family'. Most students also replied affirmatively to 'family members are aware of how their time is being spent' and 'damily members are aware of with whom they spend their time'.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Mangaluru police have arrested a 27-year-old NRI on his return from Saudi Arabia in connection with an Instagram post allegedly containing derogatory and provocative remarks about the Hindu religion, officials said on Monday.

The accused, Abdul Khader Nehad, a resident of Ulaibettu in Mangaluru, was working in Saudi Arabia when the post was uploaded, police said.

A suo motu case was registered at the Bajpe police station on October 11 after an allegedly offensive post circulated from the Instagram account ‘team_sdpi_2025’. Police said the content was flagged for being provocative and derogatory in nature.

During the investigation, technical analysis traced the Instagram post to Nehad, who was residing abroad at the time, a senior police officer said. Based on these findings, a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against him.

On December 14, Nehad arrived from Saudi Arabia at Calicut International Airport in Kerala, where he was taken into custody on arrival. Police said further investigation is underway.

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