Jharkhand minority welfare minister Haji Hussain Ansari was laid to rest in his native village at Pipra in Deoghar district on Sunday. The four-time MLA from Madhupur died of cardiac arrest on Saturday afternoon at a private hospital in Ranchi after defeating Covid-19 the night before.

Chief minister Hemant Soren, JMM cadres, local leaders from the BJP and the Congress attended his funeral. As his mortal remains were wheeled out from his ancestral home in Pathalchapdi in Madhupur to Pipra draped in the Indian flag on Sunday morning, thousands of people lined up on both sides of the road for a final glimpse of him.

Haji represented Madhupur four times since his electoral debut from this seat on a JMM ticket in 1995 and became the first Muslim to become a minister in the state government in 2010 during former chief minister Arjun Munda’s regime.

Following his death, the Jharkhand government has announced a two-day state mourning starting from Sunday and declared Monday a holiday.

Akash Agarwal with police personnel Gautam Dey

Industrialist ‘abducted’ and released

Akash Agarwal, 20, an industrialist and partner of Renuka Ispat, a private factory at Rajganj in Dhanbad, was on Sunday allegedly abducted and then released within two hours due to police pressure in Topchanchi area.

Agarwal, the son of a noted industrialist, was abducted when he was on his way to the factory around noon.

Agarwal said: “When I stopped my car about 500m from the factory due to some noise in one of the tyres, five-six persons who came to the spot in a vehicle from behind took me hostage at gunpoint and covered my face. They later pushed me into their car.”

“They took my mobile phone and called my father, demanding a ransom of Rs 10 lakh, but later released me after driving around for some time.”

Dhanbad SSP Aseem Vikrant Minz said: “Agarwal was released due to police pressure and no ransom was paid as we conducted extensive searches and blocked all the roads.”

“We are in the process of identifying those behind the incident,” he said.

Deputy commissioner Shashi Ranjan with his mother’s bier. Telegraph picture

Palamau deputy commissioner’s mother passes away

Renu Modi, 64, mother of Palamau deputy commissioner Shashi Ranjan, died of a heart attack on Saturday evening at his official residence in Daltonganj.

She was cremated the same night.

Superintendent of police Sanjeev Kumar, SDPOs Sandip Gupta and Surjit Kumar, a battery of officials and staff were present during the cremation. Prominent persons from the town, ministers and journalists have expressed their condolences.

Ranjan said: “My mother had protracted illness. She was with me. On Saturday, her condition began to deteriorate.

“I wanted to rush her to Ranchi but she was sinking and the doctors said nothing could be done. Her condition remained unstable.”

Her family has decided to have her last rites in Daltonganj itself.

Ranjan hails from village Kusmi in Godda district. He said: “My father and other family members were with me when my mother breathed her last.”

Sources said this was the first time a death has occurred in the family of a deputy commissioner at the official residence in the past 40 years or so.

The purse-snatcher after he was caught in Chas. Telegraph picture

Purse-snatcher caught

Local residents caught an alleged purse-snatcher at Banshidih in the Chas police station area on Sunday. The accused was thrashed by the residents.

The officer in charge of Chas police station, Amitabh Rai, said the incident occurred with Seema Devi, a resident of Banshidih, was on her way home from Chas. Two persons on a motorcycle came from behind, snatched her purse and began to flee. She started shouting and upon hearing her, the local residents managed to catch one of the purse-snatchers.

The arrested person has been identified as Imtiaz Ansari. His bike has been seized. The police are conducting raids to arrest the other accused. The purse has been recovered.

Illicit liquor seized

Giridih police have seized a large number of liquor bottles which were being smuggled to poll-bound Bihar at Ghodthambha Outpost in the Dhanwar police station area. Four persons have been arrested in this connection.

Security had been beefed up in border areas in view of the upcoming elections. Vehicles were being checked before being allowed to pass.

Amit Renu, the Giridih superintendent of police, received a tip-off that a shipment of illegal liquor was being ferried in an SUV to Bihar. While 48 bottles of liquor were found in another car, another 336 were found in the SUV.

The arrested persons are Upendra Kumar Soni, Guddu Kumar Pandey, Rajkumar Saw and Lalu Saw.