Monday, 10 March 2025
Monday, 10 March 2025
Village road blocked, Rajasthan man wants helicopter
The approach way to his house was blocked, so the district administration should provide him with a helicopter to help him travel – this was a man’s demand at a village meeting in Rajasthan last week.
This happened during a 'Raatri Chaupal' meeting in Barmer. In a written complaint, our man from Jorpura village said for the past several days some people had encroached on a stretch of land that leads to his house and began farming there.
Ergo, the administration should provide him a helicopter, our man wrote.
Props to the district collector, who directed the sub-divisional magistrate to take action. The SDM travelled to the man’s house and told the encroachers to clear off within three days.
FIR plea against Gurugram councillor in rubbish bin
Some files go missing. Some gather dust. And some, as it turns out, end up straight in the rubbish bin.
In what sounds straight out of a dark-comedy script, a recommendation by the Gurugram Municipal Corporation to file an FIR against a former councillor for alleged illegal construction was literally trashed.
The discovery was made courtesy of a Right to Information (RTI) application.
Realising that their request had gone from official document to waste management, the civic body has now reportedly sent a fresh reminder to the police.
The reminder, addressed to the SHO of Shivaji Nagar police station on January 27, lays out the case’s history. It states that the councillor was issued a show-cause notice on December 10, 2019, for encroachment. A demolition notice followed on December 18, 2019, under Section 261(1) of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act. Then, on January 18, 2020, a letter was sent to the police requesting an FIR.
“But the FIR was not registered. It is requested again that a copy of the FIR should be made available after registering it,” the reminder states, in what sounds like a polite but exhausted plea.
“We are waiting for the copy of the FIR now,” a civic official said, likely with fingers crossed.
The police, however, claimed they had not received any reminder. "It will be found out why the case was not registered," a senior officer was quoted as saying.
The former councillor at the centre of it all is unfazed: “They [allegations] are baseless, and I am ready for an investigation,” he told PTI.
The big question now — will the police register the FIR first or will someone pick up the story for a Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron remake?
Drunk Bihar headmaster forgets prohibition exists
In Bihar, the place that was declared a dry State in April 2016 and where prohibition laws are tighter than security for VIPs, a government school headmaster found himself at the centre of a Republic Day celebration that was in equal parts bizarre and revealing.
When the headmaster – of a government school in Muzaffarpur’s Minapur – arrived at school to unfurl the national flag, he was already well ahead of the ceremony.
A viral video shows him swaying like a Bollywood villain, admitting that he is drunk – not because he wants to be, but because he is helpless.
“Drinking is important for life,” he declares.
The police were called, and a simple breathalyzer test confirmed what everyone already knew.
Before being arrested, the headmaster delivered an emotional monologue, ranting about unpaid salaries, mounting debts, and the crushing weight of running a school without funds.
"I haven’t received my salary for five months! I can’t even pay for the midday meals! Tell me, how am I supposed to survive,” he told the crowd.
Thanks to Google Maps, French tourists mistaken for aliens
In an incident that almost bridged the gap between Area 51 and Uttar Pradesh, Google Maps apparently misled two French tourists heading for Nepal to UP’s Bareilly, where they were reported to police as aliens – not the illegal ones but the E.T. type. .
Traveler duo Brian Jacques Gilbert and Sebastian Francois Gabriel had set out on a cycle expedition from Delhi to Kathmandu. They took a suggested shortcut and got lost in Bareilly.
Deciding to retire for the night, they pitched their tents near Churaili Dam.
Villagers spotted the duo on the deserted road at night wearing headgear fitted with lights speaking in a language they did not understand. That was enough for them to think of them as extraterrestrial beings.
Upon unraveling the mystery, the police took the two to the village head’s house for the night. Next morning, they were sent on their way to Nepal with proper directions.
Brian and Sebastian will probably consider carrying a map from now on, the traditional way.
Kidnappers give Karnataka doctor money to get home
A paediatrician from Karnataka’s Bellary district out on a morning walk was abducted by a gang who wanted Rs 6 crore as ransom. Hours later, the kidnappers dumped him in a remote location with Rs 300 to find his way home.
A group of men in a Tata Indigo were seen in CCTV footage swooping in, dragging the doctor into the car and speeding off. Soon after, the gang contacted the doctor’s brother, a prominent liquor trader, with their demands — Rs 6 crore, half of it in gold.
As news of the abduction spread, authorities swung into action, blocking key exit routes and launching a manhunt. Whether the heat from law enforcement proved too much or the kidnappers had second thoughts, the doctor was released by 8pm left in an isolated spot with just enough cash to catch a bus home.
Police are now investigating whether the abduction was more than just a ransom plot.
For now, the only thing more mysterious than the sudden release is why the gang gave him the bus fare.
(Compiled by Atrayee Bose, Sohini Paul, Subharup Das Sharma, Payel Das, Sriroopa Dutta)
