“Traffic on Mughal Road stopped keeping in view safety of passengers as it is snowing at Pir ki Gali area,” he said.
The weather department has predicted snowfall between December 29 and 30, mostly in the higher reaches of the union territory.
“Intermittent light to moderate rain(in plains of Jammu) while snow in Kashmir at many places (>75% chance) from evening of Dec 29th to 30th forenoon,” said a meteorological department official.
Jammu, Dec 29 : A day after four terrorists were killed in an encounter here, police on Thursday launched search operations in several areas, including at the general bus stand and railway station, to trace the truck driver who fled from the spot before the gunfight started.
The encounter broke out between the terrorists and security forces after a truck loaded with husk was intercepted near near Tawi Bridge along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Wednesday morning, while the vehicle was on its way to Kashmir.
The truck driver fled the scene taking advantage of dense fog before the gunfight started, a police official said, adding search operations and checking of vehicles were intensified to trace him.
Special Operations Group of the Jammu and Kashmir Police cordoned Bajalta forest, about seven km from the scene of the gunfight, and carried out a thorough search operation, the official said, adding the operation is still underway and further details are awaited.
Security forces were also seen checking the identity cards of commuters at bus stands and Jammu railway station. Besides this, several checkpoints have also come up at various places in the city and along the highway including Indira Chowk.
Immediately after the encounter, Additional Director General of Police, Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh said the search is being done at bus stands, railway stations and marketplaces, while all checkpoints have also been alerted to arrest the fleeing truck driver.
“The number plate of the truck is fake. The engine and chassis number has also been tampered and the help of forensic teams will be sought in this regard,” he had said.
A huge cache of arms and ammunition including seven AK-47 rifles, one M4 rifle, three pistols, 14 grenades and around 50,000 were recovered from the possession of the slain terrorists whose identity and group affiliation are awaited.
The officials said sniffer dogs were also pressed into service and efforts are on to nab the driver and also to identify the owner of the truck. PTI
Srinagar- The Economic Offence Wing of Crime Branch Kashmir has produced Challan against 7 accused persons for grabbing huge amount from complainants on the pretext of providing jobs in Jammu and Kashmir police.
According to a statement, challan was filed in case FIR No.19/2015 U/S 419, 420, 120-B RPC before the court of JMIC Ganderbal against Rakesh Kumar, Manzoor Ahmad Ganaie, Mohammad Yousuf Wani, Gh. Mohammad, Ab. Qayoom Sheikh, Shakeel Ahmad Mir S/O Ghulam and Ab. Hamid Bhat.
The statement reads the instant case was registered upon a receipt of written complaint, wherein it was alleged that Rakesh Kumar and others in league with each other have dishonestly and fraudulently grabbed huge amount from the complainants on the pretext of providing jobs in J&K Police.
“Subsequently, preliminary verification was ordered to be conducted into the matter which culminated into registration of Case FIR No. 19/2015 of Police Station Crime Branch Kashmir ( Now Economic Offence Wing) and investigation set into the motion,” it reads.
It reads during the course of investigation, it was established that all accused persons under a well planned criminal conspiracy lured the victims on the pretext of providing jobs in J&K Police and dishonestly grabbed huge amount by cheating them.
“The acts committed prima facie disclosed commission of offence punishable U/S 419, 420, 120-B RPC and accordingly challan of was produced in the court of law for judicial determination,” it reads.
New Delhi, Dec 29: A day after Congress wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah alleging breaches in the security of Rahul Gandhi, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) said the Congress leader violated security guidelines on 113 occasions since 2020 including in the Delhi leg of the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The force has also said that it would be taking up this matter separately.
The CRPF’s reply was sent late at night on Wednesday after the Congress shot off a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah alleging that the security of its leader Rahul Gandhi was compromised during Bharat Jodo Yatra in the national capital and the accusing it of “completely” failing to control the surging crowd and maintaining a perimeter around the Z+ category protectee.
“It is pointed out that on several occasions violations of laid down guidelines on the part of Shri Rahul Gandhi have been observed and this fact has been communicated to him from time to time,” sources mentioned the points in reply by CRPF to Congress National General Secretary KC Venugopal.
“For instance, since 2020, there have been 113 violations observed and duly communicated. It may further be mentioned that during the Delhi leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra, the protectee has violated security guidelines and CRPF will be taking up this matter separately.”
The force said, “the security arrangements have been fully made for Mr Rahul Gandhi as per the guidelines”.
“It may be pointed out that during visits of the protectee the required security arrangements are made by the CRPF in coordination with state police and security agencies as per guidelines.
“Advisories based on threat assessment have been issued by the MHA to all stakeholders concerned including the state governments. Advance Security Liaison (ASL) is also undertaken for every visit,” said the CRPF.
The Delhi leg of Bharat Jodo Padyatra for December 23, 2022, ASL involving all stakeholders was conducted on December 22, 2022, said the CRPF, adding “all security guidelines have been strictly followed and Delhi Police has informed that sufficient deployment of security personnel was made”.
Security arrangements made for the protectee work fine when the protectee himself adheres to the security guidelines laid down, the CRPF further added in its reply. (Agencies)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit West Bengal on Friday to lay foundation stone and dedicate to the nation projects worth more than Rs 7,800 crore there.
He will chair the second meeting of the National Ganga Council in Kolkata.
Modi will lay foundation stone and dedicate to the nation multiple sewerage infrastructure projects in West Bengal worth over Rs 2,550 crore.
He will also flag off Vande Bharat Express connecting Howrah to New Jalpaiguri and will also inaugurate Joka-Taratala stretch of Purple Line of Kolkata Metro.
In addition to this, the Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone and dedicate to the nation multiple railway projects including the laying of foundation stone of redevelopment of New Jalpaiguri railway station.
Modi will also inaugurate Syama Prasad Mookerjee National Institute of Water and Sanitation.
New Delhi, Dec 29: Hackers have increased their abuse of the Google Ads platform to target users searching for popular software products.
Among the software products being impersonated include Grammarly, Slack, Dashlane, Audacity, ITorrent, AnyDesk, Libre Office, Teamviewer, Thunderbird, and more, reports Bleeping Computer.
“The threat actors clone official websites of the above projects and distribute trojanised versions of the software when users click the download button,” the report mentioned.
The Google Ads platform helps advertisers promote pages on Google Search.
Users looking for original software products on a browser without an active ad blocker are likely to click on malicious links “because it looks very similar to the actual search result”.
“The moment those ‘disguised’ sites are being visited by targeted visitors, the server immediately redirects them to the rogue site and from there to the malicious payload,” explained Guardio Labs.
Those rogue sites are practically invisible to visitors.
If Google detects that the landing site is malicious, the campaign is blocked and the ads are removed.
The malware payload, which comes in ZIP or MSI form, is downloaded from reputable file-sharing and code-hosting services such as GitHub, Dropbox, or Discord’s CDN.
“This ensures that any anti-virus programmes running on the victim’s machine won’t object to the download,” the report mentioned.
Guardio Labs recently observed a campaign where the threat actor lured users with a trojanised version of Grammarly. The malware was bundled with the legitimate software.
NEW DELHI, Dec 29: India recorded 268 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases increased to 3,552, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
The Covid case tally was recorded at 4.46 crore (4,46,77,915).
The death toll stands at 5,30,698 with two fatalities with one reconciled by Kerala and one death reported from Maharashtra in the last 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.11 per cent while the weekly positivity was pegged at 0.17 per cent, the ministry said.
It said 2,36,919 tests for detection of Covid have been conducted in the last 24 hours.
The active cases comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate increased to 98.80 per cent, according to the ministry.
An increase of 84 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,43,665, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent.
According to the ministry’s website 220.08 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020.
The country crossed the grim milestones of two crore cases on May 4, 2021, three crore on June 23, 2021 and four crore on January 25 this year. (Agencies)
Srinagar, Dec 29: Amid forecast for intermittent light to moderate snow at scattered places during next 24 hours, minimum temperatures recorded a rise but continued to hover below zero level in Kashmir and Ladakh on Thursday.
Quoting a meteorological department official, GNS reported that Srinagar recorded a low of minus 3.2°C against last night’s temperature of minus 5.6°C. The temperature was 1.1°C below normal for the summer capital, the official said. Srinagar has so far seen the coldest temperature this season on December 25 when mercury plummeted to minus 5.8°C.
Qazigund recorded a low of minus 3.2°C against minus 5.0°C on the previous night. The temperature was 0.9°C below normal for the gateway town of Kashmir, he said.
Pahalgam, he said, recorded a low of minus 4.5°C against minus 7.4°C on the previous night which was coldest recorded so far this season in the famous tourist resort in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. The latest minimum temperature was 0.7°C above normal, he said.
Kokernag recorded a low of minus 2.3°C against minus 3.4°C on the previous night, he said. It was 0.4°C above normal for the place, he said.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 4.8°C against minus 6.0°C on the previous night, the official said. It was 1.4°C above normal for the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
In Kupwara town, the mercury settled at minus 3.3°C against minus 5.5°C on the previous night in the north Kashmir area, he said. The official said that the low temperature was 0.8°C above normal.
Jammu recorded a low of 6.0°C against 2.7°C on the previous night. It was 1.4°C below normal for J&K’s winter capital which also remained engulfed in haze this morning, he said.
Banihal recorded a low of minus 0.2°C (below normal by 0.7°C), Batote 2.1°C (below normal by 0.1°C), Katra 7.6°C (1.0°C below normal) and Bhadarwah 0.6°C (1.2°C above normal).
In Ladakh, Leh and Kargil recorded a low of minus 12.6°C and 10.8°C respectively, the official said.
Kashmir is under the grip of Chillai-Kalan, the 40-day long harsh winter period that started on December 21.
“There is possibility (70% chance) of intermittent light to moderate snow at scattered places during December 29 (evening)-30th,” the MeT official said, adding, “Although, there’s no forecast of any major snowfall but even light snowfall and below freezing temperature may lead to temporary disruption of surface transportation on Sonamarg-Zojila, Sinthan Top, Gurez- Bandipora etc. on December 30th.”
JAMMU, Dec 29: Three people were killed in two separate accidents in Reasi and Ramban districts on Thursday, officials said
A police official said that at around 7 a.m., an Alto Car (JK11D-5950) on way from Chassana towards Sanglikote met with an accident near Hamosan Reasi, leading to the on the spot death of two people.
They have been identified as Manjeet Singh (35) son of Navratan Singh and Gurbashk Singh (25)son of Isher Singh, both residents of Malikote Chassana Reasi.The official said that a case has been registered and further investigations taken up.
Meanwhile a vehicle—Innova—skidded off the road and rolled down into a gorge at Kelamorh, Ramban along the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
Soon after the accident, a police officer said that Police, SDRF and civil Quick Response Team reached the spot and started rescue operation. Subsequently, he said, body of the driver was recovered. He identified the deceased as Mudasir Ahmed son of Noor Mohammad of Dalgate Srinagar. “The body has been shifted to district hospital Ramban,” he added.
New Delhi: After the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is awaiting Assembly elections, which are believed to be a major challenge for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Regional parties have been demanding the Centre to restore J&K’s statehood and hold Assembly elections for several months now.According to official sources, the elections can be held in April or May 2023, provided the security situation is good. However, in view of the recent terror incidents, conducting polls will be a challenge for the MHA.
The revision was the last step in preparing the roadmap for conducting the Assembly elections. According to sources, the MHA has started preparing for the same.
Terrorist attacks on migrant workers and Kashmiri Pandits kept the security agencies active in 2022, wherein 14 members from the Hindu community, including three Kashmiri Pandits, were killed by terrorists.
Terrorist threats to local leaders, employees and journalists have also remained a matter of concern. The security agencies will be responsible for creating a conducive environment in the UT if the elections are to be held.
The MHA, in this regard, recently held a meeting and sought a report from the security agencies regarding the situation in J&K. The ministry has instructed the agencies to create a conducive environment in the UT in case of early elections.
Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, recently claimed in the Rajya Sabha that there has been a significant reduction in terror attacks in J&K, where 417 terror incidents took place in 2018 and 229 in 2021, adding that in 2022, the numbers came down to 123.
According to MHA data, 180 terrorists were killed in different encounters by the security forces till November this year.
The Central government has been taking several measures, including round-the-clock security blockades, strict enforcement of law against anti-national elements, extensive search operations to deal with terror outfits, initiating action against people providing aid to terrorists, and day-night sharing of intelligence among all the security forces in the UT, which involves providing security through area domination.
Meanwhile, decision on the petitions challenging the delimitation is pending before the Supreme Court. The court had reserved its decision on December 1 and is expected to pronounce its verdict in the new year, which may also affect the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
According to sources, a recent report by intelligence agencies had revealed that the number of foreign (Pakistani) terrorists has increased in the valley.
Pakistan intelligence agency ISI and terrorist organisations have been adopting new methods of infiltration, which are a major cause of concern for the security forces.
Tackling the same and creating a conducive environment for holding elections will be a major challenge for the Central government and the security agencies in 2023.