Lucknow Sep 29 PTI The Uttar Pradesh Police is soft on criminal and brutal with common people alleged Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday commenting over the death of a Kanpur businessman after he was allegedly thrashed by policemen Priyanka also talked to family members of the victim over the phone expressing grief and assuring them of help in ensuring justice party sources said Manish Gupta 36 had died in a Gorakhpur hotel during a police raid prompting the authorities to suspend six policemen and booking them on the charge of murder Gupta was staying along with two friends in the hotel Police had earlier denied the charge and said he received a head injury after he fell on the ground as he was drunk Meanwhile BSP supremo Mayawati also attacked BJP government saying the incident exposed tall claims over law and order Samajwadi Party SP president Akhilesh Yadav said the incident was the result of the encounter culture of the state government According to reports a businessman in Gorakhpur was beaten up by police after which he died Priyanka said The state of jungle law is such under this government that police are soft on criminals and behave barbarously with common people the Congress leader said in a tweet Reacting to the incident Mayawati in a Hindi tweet said The barbaric act against three businessmen during a raid in a hotel in the CMs home district is very said and shameful It exposes tall claims of the BJP on law and order In reality the entire state is facing such incidents she said The state government should provide justice to every victims family and ensure that such incidents do not happen again she added SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in a tweet on Tuesday alleged that the incident is the result of the encounter culture Those involved should face trial and those who pushed the state on the path of violence should resign he said in a tweet PTI ABN SAB RDK RDK

Lucknow Sep 29 PTI Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met various people including doctors and health workers here Wednesday and praised them from their efforts during the pandemic Ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections Priyanka Gandhi is on a five-day visit in Lucknow to review and discuss the partys preparedness for the polls On the third day of her visit Wednesday she continued her meetings with senior party leaders to discuss the strategy for the polls Pankaj Srivastava vice chairman of the Media and Communication Department of the UP Congress Committee told media She will continue meetings at Kaul house with party office bearers During meetings on Tuesday the partys general secretary had discussions relating to setting up of war rooms at district levels to receive feedback from the ground so as to take prompt decisions on emergent issues as part of the election strategy She also discussed the route for the partys proposed Pratigya Yatra The party leaders also discussed the booth management strategy considered important for the polls party officials said This is her second visit this month after September 13 when she stayed in the state for five days The Congress party had fought the 2017 UP polls in alliance with the Samajwadi Party The grand old party had managed to win just seven of the 114 contested seats with a vote share of 625 per cent This time the Congress party has announced that it would fight the 2022 polls without aligning with any big political party PTI ABN MGA MGA

Lucknow Sep 29 PTI The Uttar Pradesh Police is soft on criminal and brutal with common people alleged Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday commenting over the death of a Kanpur businessman after he was allegedly thrashed by policemen Manish Gupta 36 died in a Gorakhpur hotel during a police raid prompting the authorities to suspend six policemen and booking them on the charge of murder Gupta was staying along with two friends in the hotel Police had earlier denied the charge and said he received a head injury after he fell on the ground as he was in a drunk Meanwhile BSP supremo Mayawati also attacked BJP government saying the incident exposed tall claims over law and order Samajwadi Party SP president Akhilesh Yadav said the incident was the result of the encounter culture of the state government According to reports a businessman in Gorakhpur was beaten up by police after which he died Priyanka said The state of jungle law is such under this government that police are soft on criminals and behave barbarously with common people the Congress leader said in a tweet Reacting to the incident Mayawati in a Hindi tweet said The barbaric act against three businessmen during a raid in a hotel in the CMs home district is very said and shameful It exposes tall claims of the BJP on law and order In reality the entire state is facing such incidents she said The state government should provide justice to every victims family and ensure that such incidents do not happen again she added SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in a tweet on Tuesday alleged that the incident is the result of the encounter culture Those involved should face trial and those who pushed the state on the path of violence should resign he said PTI ABN SAB RDK RDK

Lucknow Sep 29 PTI Uttar Pradesh recorded eight COVID-19 cases and one fatality due to the disease on Wednesday taking the states death toll to 22892 and the infection tally to 1709800The single death was reported from Raebareli an official statement issued here saidThe count of active COVID-19 cases in the state now stands at 159 it addedTwenty-three more patients have recovered from the disease taking the tally of recoveries to 1686749 the statement notedOver 783 crore samples have been tested for COVID-19 so far in the state including more than two lakh on Tuesday it addedOver 1055 crore coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered in the state the statement said adding that over 57 per cent of the eligible adult population has been given the first dose PTI ABNVN IJT

Lucknow Sep 29 PTI Workers of the Youth Congress here on Wednesday protested the alleged use of derogatory language by an English news channel against party leader Rahul Gandhi Some Congress workers reached the channel office around 4 pm and raised slogans against it Police Commissioner DK Thakur told PTI He said no complaint has been given by the channel in this regard till now and added that probe is on in the matter The bureau head of the channel said 25-30 Congress workers entered their office and started sloganeering alleging that the channel made some derogatory remarks against their leader Rahul Gandhi The party workers also damaged flower pots kept at stairs he alleged Local Congress leader Lalan Kumar alleged that the news channel had made remarks against Rahul Gandhi due which the Youth Congress workers protested at their office PTI ZIR ABN RDK RDK

Lucknow Sep 29 PTI Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday accused the Uttar Pradesh government of having a jungle law in the state with police being soft on criminals and savage for common people Priyanka Gandhi made the allegation two days after a 36-year-old Lucknow businessman died in a Gorakhpur Hotel during a police raid on it on Monday night prompting authorities to suspend six policemen and booking them on the charge of murder on Tuesday According to reports a businessman in Gorakhpur was beaten up by the police so much that he died This incident has spread fear among the general public of the entire state Priyanka Gandhi said in her tweet on Wednesday The state of jungle law is such under this government that the police are soft on criminals and behave barbarously with the common people the Congress leader presently on a visit to Lucknow added Kanpur businessman Manish Gupta who had come to Gorakhpur to see the development in the city and had been staying in the hotel died during a police raid on the hotel on late Monday night Guptas wife Meenakshi had accused the police of beating her husband to death but the police had denied the charge and said he received a head injury after he fell on the ground as he was in a drunken state The authorities have since then suspended six policemen including the Ramgarh Tal police stations SHO and a case under section 302 IPC murder has been registered against them PTI SAB RAX RAX

Lucknow Sep 28 PTI The BJP on Tuesday took a swipe at Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over her visit to Uttar Pradesh at a time her party faced a fresh crisis in Punjab and mockingly asked whether it should arrange a ticket to Punjab for her Priyanka Vadra ji you have come to UP at a wrong time It was time to go to Punjab Should a ticket to Punjab be arranged the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP tweeted in Hindi The tweet came hours after Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned as the chief of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee plunging the party into a fresh crisis just months ahead of the assembly elections in the state In a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi Sidhu however said he will continue to serve the party Hours later Razia Sultana a part of the new 18-member ministry led by Charanjit Singh Channi too put in her papers expressing solidarity with the former cricketer Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi arrived here on Monday on a five-day visit to review and discuss the partys preparedness for next years assembly elections in the state This is her second visit to the state this month Uttar Pradesh goes to assembly polls early next year along with Punjab and some other states Reacting to the BJP tweet Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh told PTI The tweet made by the BJP shows its mentality Priyanka Gandhi ji is the partys in-charge of UP and the language used by the BJP does not go well in a democracy PTI NAV SMN SMN

Lucknow Sep 28 PTI The Uttar Pradesh government has relaxed the COVID-19 lockdown norms by allowing more people to gather at open spaces outside containment zones for marriages and other functions However for closed places the earlier provision of allowing a maximum of 100 persons to be gathered at a time with proper Covid protocols in place remains intact In a letter dated September 27 addressed to police and administration officials in the state Additional Chief Secretary Home Awanish Awasthi said A maximum of 100 persons will be allowed to gather at closed places at a time while following the COVID-19 protocol A COVID helpdesk has to be set up at the entrance point of the event For open places people will be allowed to gather as per the area of the programme venue and a COVID helpdesk has to be set up at the entrance point of the event the letter said On September 19 Awasthi had said in closed as well as at open places a maximum of 100 persons will be allowed to gather at a place while following COVID-19 protocol PTI NAV AQS AQS

Lucknow Sep 28 PTI The BJP on Tuesday took a swipe at Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over her visit to Uttar Pradesh at a time her party faced a fresh crisis in Punjab Priyanka Vadra ji you have come to UP at a wrong time It was time to go to Punjab Should a ticket for Punjab be arranged the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP tweeted in Hindi Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday resigned as the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief plunging the party into a fresh crisis just months ahead of the assembly elections in the state Hours later Razia Sultana a part of the new 18-member ministry led by Charanjit Singh Channi too put in her papers expressing solidarity with the former cricketer Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi arrived here on Monday on a five-day visit to review and discuss the partys preparedness for next years assembly elections in the state This is her second visit to the state this month Uttar Pradesh goes to assembly polls early next year along with Punjab and some other states PTINAV SMN SMN

Lucknow Sep 28 PTI BSP president Mayawati expressed serious concern on Tuesday over the recovery of the body of a four-year-old Dalit girl from a paddy field in Uttar Pradeshs Aligarh and demanded justice for the family after a proper inquiryThe girls body was recovered from a paddy field on Monday afternoon According to the victims family members and other villagers she had gone missing since Sunday eveningThe villagers have also alleged that the girl was sexually assaulted before being killedIn Aligarh district the body of a Dalit innocent girl was found lying in a paddy field The family has expressed suspicion of murder after rape This incident is very serious and sad The government must give justice to the victims family by getting the matter investigated properly this is the demand of the BSP Mayawati said in a tweet in Hindi PTI SAB RC