A 24-year-old woman, who went missing from Hazaribagh on September 2, was found dead in a lodge in Baralota, Medninagar, in Palamu. Police, who found Salina Yasmeen’s body after a tip-off, spotted poison in the room. Yasmeen’s body was found hanging from the ceiling fan.

She was a resident of Pelawal in Hazaribagh town.

Her family alleged that she had been raped by the man she was having an affair with and his friends.

The police has started an investigation and are on the lookout for the man.

Salina Yasmeen Vishvendu Jaipuriar

Four members of gang caught

Four members of a gang of snatchers were arrested by police in Ormanjhi on Saturday. The men allegedly belong to the notorious Bihar-based Koda gang. The gang members use high-speed motorcycles to swoop in and snatch money from people while they leave bank branches.

The arrests followed a case of snatching three days ago. The accused snatched Rs 1 lakh from two persons who had withdrawn money from a HDFC Bank branch. The accused kicked the motorcycle of the victims and when they had fallen down, the accused fled with the money. The police lodged an FIR in the case.

Superintendent of police (SP) Chandan Kumar Jha formed a special investigating team (SIT) led by deputy SP Gyan Ranjan.

“We arrested Ram Kumar Yadav, Kishan Kumar Yadav, Vikash Kumar Yadav and Ganesh Yadav, all members of the Koda gang, and seized cash worth Rs 1.55 lakh, seven mobile handsets, fake Aadhar cards and driving licences,” said Ranjan.

DSP Gyan Ranjan with the arrested members of Koda gang. Surender Kumar

50 discharged from Covid care centres

Fifty people were discharged on Saturday from five Covid-19 treatment facilities in Dhanbad: 18 from the dedicated Covid-19 health centre at the Sadar hospital, 15 from the dedicated Covid-19 health centre at Nirsa Polytechnic, 11 from the dedicated Covid-19 health centre at the railway zonal training institute in Bhuli, five from the dedicated Covid-19 hospital in Dhanbad at Jagjivan Nagar and one from the dedicated Covid-19 health centre at PMCH cath lab. All the discharged persons have been instructed to remain in home quarantine for the next 14 days.

Meanwhile, 107 Covid-19 cases were detected on Saturday in a special rapid antigen test drive conducted by the Dhanbad district administration. Around 3,700 people were tested during the drive.

Civil society activists remember Gauri Lankesh in Palamau

Civil society outfits, including IPTA, Pargateesheel Lekhak Sangh, Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, Jan Sangarsh Morcha, AISA and Deharee Mazdoor Union, on Saturday demonstrated at Bhagat Singh Chowk in Daltonganj to “save democracy and civil rights and liberties”.

IPTA national secretary Shailender Kumar said: “We all gathered today to ask people to rise as there is a deliberate and systematic assault on their rights and their liberties.

“On this day three years ago, veteran journalist Gauri Lankesh was killed as she had dared to challenge right-wing radicalism.”

The campaign will be on till September 10.

The activists at Bhagat Singh Chowk in Daltonganj on Saturday. Telegraph picture

Gym owners meet MLA

Gym owners and trainers, hit hard by the pandemic, on Saturday met Hazaribagh Sadar MLA Manish Jaiswal and requested him to brief the state government about their condition.

The owner of Royal Fitness Gym in Hazaribagh, Rajkumar Thapa, said that since March, he has been struggling financially. He said that though the government has allowed several kinds of businesses to reopen, gym owners have been left in the lurch.

Abhijeet Guha, of A to Z Gym, said gym owners are having trouble paying off their loans and clearing their bills.

Jaiswal assured them that he would take up the matter with the state government.

The gym owners talk to Hazaribagh Sadar MLA Manish Jaiswal. Vishvendu Jaipuriar

71-year-old killed during ‘robbery’

The dead body of a 71-year-old resident of Gend Nawadih village in the Topchanchi police station area was found lying in a pool of blood at his home. Cash and jewellery were missing from Vijay Mahto’s home.