Armed dacoits looted properties worth Rs 50 lakh and seriously injured a passenger on the Giridih-Madhupur Passenger train in Giridih district, railway officials said today.

Over 20 armed dacoits went into looting spree in the reserved and general compartments last night after the train left Giridih station, they said.

The gang looted cash, jewellery and mobile phones from the passengers, pulled the chain and fled with the booty.

The dacoits fired at a passenger identified as Pravin Sahay, a government employee, when he resisted their move.

Sahay was first taken to Madhupur hospital, from where he was referred to Sadar Hospital, Giridih.

police team from Rajasthan has detained a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh official in Jharkhand’s Giridih district for his alleged role in the 2007 Ajmer Sharif blast, which killed three people.

Mahendra, a native of Indore, used to be zilla pracharak of the Sangh’s Giridih unit. If he is found guilty, it would be the first proven link between the Sangh and a terrorist blast.

The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) picked Mahendra up from the compound of a school, the Saraswati Shishu Mandir, from where he had been carrying out the Sangh’s activities for the past one year.

Sources said Devendra Gupta, an arrested Ajmer Sharif blast suspect, had told the Rajasthan police that Mahendra was involved in the attack. They added that Devendra had also accepted his links with the Abhinav Bharat Sangathan, a Hindu radical group accused of involvement in the blast, which took place just outside the dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

“Ever since he (Mahendra) came to this place, he would rarely stay at home. He was on the move most of the time and spoke only to a select few,” a domestic help at Mahendra’s home here said.
Source : The Telegraph

State income-tax officials who conducted four days’ rigorous search in Mongia Hi-Tech Private Limited are surprised over their findings.

The iron and steel producing company is owned by Giridih Chamber of Commerce president Gunwant Singh (Mongia High-Tech).

After almost 90 hours of survey, Mongia has declared Rs 20 crore. Mongia have shown cash and ornaments worth Rs 40-50 lakh each and around 200 and 150 acres, respectively.

The additional director of the investigation, Ajit Kumar Srivastava, said: “Giridih has several industries functioning on a very large scale but if we can not conduct surveys, we will never know their actual capacity.”

“Though profits are flowing in, even first-aid medicines are not available in these units,” rued Giridih income-tax officer Shashi Ranjan.

“Labourers here have several diseases, while residents living nearby inhale poisonous gases,” said Srivastava.

The Telegraph had reported how thousands of lives are being affected from the polluting sponge iron units. Several protests have also taken place on the issue.