Ugly India: Rajasthan gives away road for mining, woman kills son for Rs 100

Facing probe for a Rs 45,000-crore scam, top Rajasthan mining department officials are now under the scanner in another corruption case.

Flouting all norms, the officials allotted a road for mining in Mawli tehsil of Udaipur.

Also read - Who gave orders to bust the Rajasthan mining scam?

The road was built under the MNREGA scheme and connects the villages of Kheda Bhansol and Jhad Sadadi.

The road passes through the middle of a 4.04-hectare block that was allotted to Pradeep Paliwal, an industrialist based out of Chhattisgarh, to mine quartz and feldspar. The allotment was made on 16 August 2014.

[twittable]Kheda Bhansol-Jhad Sadadi road lies in the middle of a 4.04-hectare block demarcated for mining[/twittable]

The report demarcating this land for mining was prepared by the mineral engineering department of Udaipur in June 2014.

The report did not mention the road at all. Also, it claimed the entire area had just three trees. The truth is that the local panchayat has planted dozens, if not hundreds, of trees on this particular patch.

The fraud was exposed when the Udaipur collector wrote to the government about allotting the adjoining land for "industrial purposes". The latter clearly stated the presence of road and trees on the land allocated for mining.

"The matter was brought to our notice. We are investigating the case," said Satish Arya, Mineral Engineer, Udaipur.

Basanti Bai, of Shahjahanabad, Bhopal, murdered a man last week during a brawl over Rs 100. He was her son.

Basanti, 60, lived in the Shahjahanabad locality with her sons Kamal, 32, Bheem, 23, and Kamal's wife Anjali.

Last Friday, she had a quarrel with Kamal after he demanded Rs 100 to send his wife to her parents' place.

In rage, Basanti hit Kamal on the head with a hammer. He died on the spot. Basanti, along with her other son, then burnt Kamal's body.

Also read - Get a mine in 12 hours: Rs 45,000-crore scam surfaces in Rajasthan

When her neighbours asked about the fire in her yard, she told them they had burnt garbage.

Basanti and Bheem also locked Anjali in their house for two days. She, however, managed to flee early Sunday morning and told her brother about the murder.

They then informed the police, who found the remains of Kamal's burnt body near the house. Basanti and her son have been arrested.

The controversy over his wife cheating in her postgraduate exam is yet to blow over and Chhattisgarh's education minister has landed in another storm.

A social worker has accused Kedar Kashyap of throwing a Muslim girl out of his house.

According to Madhavi Wakde, who works for the education of the poor, she had gone to seek the minister's help for the girl's education. However, as soon as Kashyap came to know the girl was a Muslim, he ordered his security guards to "throw both of them out of the house".

Ruby Parveen, 12, studies at Madhavi's learning centre at Tatyapara. Realising that she was bright, Madhavi had approached the minister to help provide for Ruby's education.

The activist has filed a complaint against the minister at Civil Lines police station, Raipur.

[twittable]Activist says Chhattisgarh minister threw 12-year-old out of his house after learning she was Muslim[/twittable]

"Kedar Kashyap makes tall claims about public welfare. But he does not know how to talk to women and children. I will approach the court if an FIR is not registered against him," Madhavi said. The police has assured to investigate the incident.

Kashyap has denied the allegation. "A woman came to meet me with a girl child. I did not pass any remark regarding the religion of the girl. I told the woman to meet the concerned officials," he claimed.

According to Madhavi, she had gone to the officials of education department before approaching the minister, "but they too showed apathy for Ruby".

Meanwhile, no action has been taken yet against the minister's wife in the cheating case.

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