Railway worker killed in suspected Maoist landmine blast in Odisha
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has expressed deep sorrow over the incident and announced an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the family of the deceased. "This is a tragic loss. We stand with the family of Etawa Oram in this difficult time," the Chief Minister said in a statement.Train services on the affected route have been suspended temporarily, leading to disruptions and inconvenience for commuters.- EndsMust Watch
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Time of India
6 hours ago
- Time of India
4 dists in southern belt report violence-free Martyrs' Week
Koraput: The Maoist-sponsored Martyrs' Week ended on Sunday without any incidence of violence being reported in the rebel-hit districts of Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur and Malkangiri, police said. DIG (south-western range) Kanwar Vishal Singh said that no untoward incident was reported throughout the week. "Presently, the situation is under control. However, we cannot afford to be complacent. Security forces remain on high alert to deal with any Maoist threat," he added. Celebrated annually from July 28 to August 3 by the outlawed CPI (Maoist), Martyrs Week commemorates the death of Naxalite ideologue Charu Majumdar, who died in police custody on July 28, 1972. The period is typically marked by a spike in Maoist propaganda activities, including the erection of temporary martyr pillars, cultural programmes in remote forested areas and public addresses promoting the group's ideology, particularly in tribal regions. To counter any Maoist activity, extensive security arrangements were made across the four districts, with particular focus on areas bordering Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like If you have a mouse, play this game for 1 minute Navy Quest Undo In Malkangiri, considered one of the worst Maoist-affected districts, SP Vinod Patil said that all police stations were on high alert, with additional forces deployed to sensitive areas. Koraput and Nabarangpur also witnessed intensified patrolling, especially in regions close to the Chhattisgarh border. "The northern part of Nabarangpur remains a focus area for us and extra deployment has been made to thwart any Maoist movement," Singh added. Though no Maoist posters or banners related to the observance were found this year, police said that vehicles entering the region were thoroughly frisked throughout the week to prevent infiltration or arms movement. Police said that surveillance and anti-Maoist operations would continue even after the culmination of Martyrs Week. Round-the-clock monitoring and coordinated action will remain in force to ensure lasting peace in the region, the DIG said. On Sunday, a landmine explosion allegedly triggered by Maoists killed one railway employee and wounded another while they were conducting track inspection in Sundargarh district, along the Odisha-Jharkhand border, police said. Posters were recovered near the damaged track with Maoists claiming responsibility for the attack.
The Hindu
11 hours ago
- The Hindu
Suspected Maoists carry out two IED blasts on railway tracks along Odisha-Jharkhand border
Suspected Maoists carried out two Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts on railway tracks along the Odisha-Jharkhand border on Sunday (August 3, 2025) night, a police officer said. The two blasts, which caused damage to the tracks, occurred at separate locations near Jharkhand border. This comes hours after a railway personnel was killed in an IED blast on a railway track near Odisha-Jharkhand border in Sundergarh district. The deceased was identified as Etawa Oram (37) while an injured, identified as Budharam Munda, has been admitted to Rourkela General Hospital. Both had gone to the spot for maintenance of the tracks. The blast took place on the tracks connecting Karampada and Renjda under the Bimlagarh section. However, movement of any passenger train was not affected as it is a loop line, a spokesperson of the South Eastern Railway said. The Maoists had given a call to observe a martyrs' week or 'Shahid Saptah' from July 28 to August 3. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had announced Rs 10 lakh ex gratia for the deceased's family. "We have intensified combing operations in the area. Special Operations Group (SOG), District Voluntary Force (DVF) and bomb squads have been engaged in the operations," said ADG (anti-Naxal operations), Sanjeev Panda, who visited the site on Monday.
India Today
14 hours ago
- India Today
Param Bir Singh: Malegaon blast cop who's the king of controversies
It is one thing to be an IPS officer, but quite another to serve in power hubs like Delhi or Mumbai, where policing overlaps with politics, influence, and intense scrutiny. Few officers understand this better than Param Bir Singh, the former Mumbai Police Commissioner and the ex-Director General of the Maharashtra Home Guard. It's been three years since Singh retired, but he is back in the news again, this time because of his role as one of the investigating officers in the 2008 Malegaon blast 34-year-long career has been marked by both high-profile postings, cases, and a slew of controversies that followed.A special NIA court in Mumbai acquitted all seven accused on Thursday. But the layers of the investigation are coming to light.A day after the verdict was announced, retired ATS officer Mehboob Mujawar told India Today TV that Singh, then Assistant Commissioner of Police, had ordered the arrest of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in connection with the explosive detail emerged when one of the 39 witnesses, Milind Joshirao, told the court that Singh, who was then an ACP, and Deputy Commissioner Shrirao had threatened him with torture and coerced him into naming Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other RSS had held several important positions in his career before, but it was the Malegaon blast case that first brought him into the public eye. Now, with the verdict finally delivered, insider details are emerging, bringing the focus back on the controversial former top IS FORMER MUMBAI TOP COP PARAM BIR SINGHBorn in Chandigarh in 1964, Param Bir Singh graduated from Punjab University in 1983 before joining the Indian Police Service in an IPS officer, Singh has held some of the most prominent positions in Maharashtra – like Police Commissioner of Thane, Superintendent of Police in the Maoist belt of Chandrapur and Bhandara, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection) in Mumbai, Additional Commissioner of Police in North-West Region in Mumbai, Additional Commissioner of Police in Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), and the Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order).Singh retired from service in June 2022, and was appointed the executive director of Mumbai's famed Lilavati Hospital in July last BOMB SCARE, PROCLAIMED OFFENDER, AND AN ABSCONDING TOP COPSingh was already a well-known cop by the late 2010s, with several high-profile cases to his name. But it was his 2021 clash with the state government that kept him in the case involved an SUV laden with 20 gelatin sticks, found on Carmichael Road in South Mumbai, parked near the residence of business tycoon Mukesh was then the Police Commissioner of Mumbai. It was just a year earlier, in February 2020, that Singh was appointed Mumbai's top held the role until March 2021, when he was moved by Maharashtra's then-Home Minister Anil Deshmukh to the home guards wing as Director General for lapses in the probe of the Antilia bomb scare provoked by this, Singh, in turn, wrote to then-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray accusing Deshmukh that he had asked police officers, including the now-dismissed Assistant Police Inspector (API) Sachin Vaze, to collect Rs 100 crore, including Rs 40-50 crore each month from 1,750 bars and restaurants in must be noted that Vaze is currently in the custody of the NIA for his alleged involvement in the Antilia bomb case and the murder of Mansukh Hiren. It was Hiren's car that was found outside Ambani's house, one he had reported stolen the previous week. A week later, Hiren was found dead in a creek in speaking to PTI last year, Singh again reiterated the claim, alleging, "The Rs 100 crore collection target was for Mumbai city for which my officers were pressured. The target for the rest of the state was different."But what followed Singh's letter to Thackeray appeared to be a full-blown confrontation between the top cop and the state Singh's claim in 2021, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a money-laundering case against Anil Deshmukh and arrested him for allegedly obtaining illegal soon after Singh's letter to Thackeray, at least five extortion cases against Singh surfaced in November 2021, a magistrate court in Mumbai declared Singh a "proclaimed offender" in connection with one of the extortion cases – a first for a Mumbai police commissioner. The court also declared Singh an "absconding accused" in the extortion case, as he had remained out of public view since being removed from his post as Mumbai's police only reappeared two days after the Supreme Court granted him protection from arrest, while ordering him to cooperate in the he was suspended in December 2021 for "indiscipline and other irregularities".Apart from the extortion cases, Singh also faced a departmental inquiry in the Antilia bomb scare case for allegedly revoking, or causing the revocation of, Sachin Vaze's BIR SINGH HAD THE LAST LAUGH IN ANTILIA CASEHowever, in 2023, the Maharashtra government, then led by Eknath Shinde, dropped all charges against Singh and revoked his December 2021 suspension government cited a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order that said the suspension order lapsed because the government did not review it in he retired on June 30, 2022, the period from the day he was suspended (December 12, 2021 to June 30, 2022) was treated as him being "on duty".MORE ABOUT PARAM BIR SINGH AND HIS HIGH-PROFILE CAREERParam Bir Singh entered the limelight over the arrest of BJP member Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, who are now acquitted by the special NIA he was at the helm of multiple high-profile instance, he oversaw the probe into the Television Rating Points (TRP) scam, which exposed alleged manipulations in audience measurement systems by certain TV channels to inflate viewership numbers through paid probe implicated at least three channels in the scam. Singh drew flak from a national news channel for holding a press conference on the also led the investigation into the Anvay Naik suicide case, involving the death of an interior designer who left a note accusing media figures of non-payment, and the high-profile case of Hindi film industry actor Sushant Singh Rajput's in his career, as Additional Commissioner of Police, Singh countered terrorists during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks at the Oberoi Trident hotel. He was working alongside then-ATS chief Hemant Karkare, who had led the investigation into the 2008 Malegaon blasts and was killed in the line of duty during the Mumbai despite his role in the 26/11 attacks, a grave allegation surfaced against the time Singh was being investigated in multiple extortion cases, retired Assistant Police Commissioner Samsher Khan Pathan alleged that Singh had "destroyed" a mobile phone seized from 26/11 terror convict Mohammed Ajmal Kasab. According to Pathan, the phone was a crucial piece of evidence and should have been handed over to Ramesh Mahale, the investigating officer in the case. Instead, Singh allegedly disposed of it without were no subsequent developments regarding the the Police Commissioner of Thane, his efforts included the arrest of Iqbal Kaskar, brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, and the busting of a Rs 2,000 crore drug scandal with international Bir Singh's career has been anything but have dubbed him the trouble child of the force, a man who crossed the line with the state government. But he has seen the full spectrum of public service, and remains one of the few top cops to have sustained constant media attention, while also handling a slew of high-profile cases.- EndsTrending Reel
