A district administration team led by sub divisional officer Raj Maheshwaram conducted a raid at the congested Purana Bazar market area of Dhanbad after receiving a tip-off, and caught seven persons for opening shops without authorisation on Wednesday.

They were selling products like garments and shoes, when the state government has not allowed the opening of shops.

The arrested persons, who were handed over to the Bank Mor police, were subsequently released after submitting PR bonds at the instruction of the SDO.

“The raid was conducted today on the information of the unauthorized opening of garment and footwear shops, leading to the congregation of a large number of people and violation of social distancing norms,” said the SDO.

Woman, daughter found dead at home

Bodies of the wife of a motor mechanic and their 8-year-old daughter were found in their house in the Baniahir locality of Jharia on Wednesday.

The incident came to light when neighbours knocked on their door in the evening, and peeped in through the window after receiving no response, when they found Reshma Parween (30), wife of Manzoor Alam, hanging from the ceiling fan.

They later entered the house to find the body of their daugher, Muskan Parween lying on the bed.

Manzoor Alam was at his garage when the incident took place while his 12-year-old son was playing outside.

The bodies have been sent for post-mortem at PMCH and investigation is on.

Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) Ranchi organized a welcome ceremony for its incoming Director and thanksgiving ceremony for the outgoing Director in their auditorium Picture by Manob Chowdhury

New agendas for XISS, Ranchi

Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) Ranchi organized a welcome ceremony for its incoming Director and thanksgiving ceremony for the outgoing Director in their auditorium on Wednesday.

Assistant Director Fr. Pradeep Kerketta S.J said that this pandemic and the lessons learned from it have pushed us to move ahead in virtual academic proceedings for carrying forward the work.

Dr. Fr. Joseph M. Kujur, the new director of XISS after completing his tenure as Provincial, Ranchi Jesuit Society, is succeeding Dr. Amar Tigga, who was the acting director chair for ten months.

Kujur described the priorities in his agenda, including NBA accreditation, a new campus for the institute, University status and counselling for employees and students to strive through these tough times.

“We are now living in Covid -19 times where reimagining and reinventing ourselves and adaptation to new changes is mandatory. There is no space for complacency while we to have be more conscious about life and have a dialogue with nature if we wish to have a healthy lifestyle,” Kujur said.

Murder made to look like suicide, village head in cahoots

Police on Tuesday exhumed the body of a 16-year-old girl, two days after her family members buried her without informing the law enforcers.

Three people were arrested and sent to judicial custody.

The body of the teenager, a resident of a village in Bhandaria, was found hanging on a tree the day after she had gone to attend a wedding with her three friends on Saturday night.

A panchayat was convened under the chairmanship of the village head, where Kundan Singh Prahiya (22) confessed to killing the minor.

The killer was then acquitted after being slapped a penalty of Rs. 20,000 by the village head, who decided to give half to the victim's brother, Mantu Devar, for the funeral, and the other Rs 10,000 to suppress the murder, which the headman kept and asked people to build a temple in the village.

Under the pressure of the panchayat, the girl's body was buried, even though Devar did not agree to it. Prahiya did not pay him the penalty either.

Devar then informed the Bhandariya police station and informed about the whole incident, after which the police exhumed the body and sent it to to Sadar Hospital for post-mortem.

Police registered an FIR against three persons including Kundan Singh Prahiya, his father Ramlal Singh and village head Chandrika Singh under various sections of the IPC.

“The girl had a love affair with Kundan Singh, after which there was disagreement between them. Kundan kidnapped the girl and strangled her in cooperation his two other accomplices, and hung the body on a tree to make it look like a suicide, said police in-charge Krishna Kumar.

Three persons including main accused Kundan, Sushil Singh (24), and Jitendra Singh (21) have been arrested in the case and sent to the judicial custody, today, Kumar added.

Police investigation is underway.

Man driving with wife jumps to death

A 40-year-old man, Pankaj Kumar, who was driving his Maruti Ignis with his wife from Ranchi to Dhanbad, stopped his car at Telmouchu Bridge, jumped off 150 feet down the bridge into the Damodar river, and died on spot on Wednesday.

The wife of the deceased Vijay Laxmi is in shock.

“Before I understood anything or was able to stop him he jumped without any pause,” said Laxmi to police.

DSP, Chas, Bhagwan Das said they are investigating to ascertain the reason why Kumar, an employee of the Dhanbad electricity department killed himself in that manner.

“When inquired, the wife is not in a position to say anything. She only says that everything was normal. We are waiting for relatives of the deceased to know more details before reaching any conclusion”.

Sources said that the deceased was mentally upset but what happened in the car that made him jump down the bridge is a under investigation.